We sat down at an empty table. The sun was streaming in through the window, and I could see dust motes dancing in the beam, exactly the way they did at home. I had adjusted to the gravity, which wasn’t all that different after all. I took a bite of the fish, which was a bit bland and over-sweet, though perfectly cooked.

“I thought he was called Kebes?” Hermes asked.

“He was called Matthias here. Kebes was the name Ficino gave him, from Plato.” I realized that Hermes wasn’t touching his fish and stopped eating. “Aren’t you going to eat?” I asked.

“I can only eat for ritual purposes,” he said. “It’s a pity, because it smells so good.”

“Ritual purposes? You mean sacrifices?” We sacrificed animals to the gods on some special occasions, burning the fat and skin and then eating the meat.

“Sacrifices, yes, or to accept hospitality.”

“So since I bought that, if I were to offer it to you as hospitality, you could eat it? Because I’m forbidden from eating alone, and I’m really hungry.”

“Thank you, I accept,” he said. “We are guest-friends now.” He took a bite of the fish. “Oh that’s good.”

“What were we before?” I asked.

“Well, you are my votary,” Hermes said, smiling. “And I suppose we’re acquaintances who have a child—what do you call that relationship in your cities? Ex-spouses?”

“No, it usually is friendship,” I said.

“Friendship is good.” He looked at me seriously, then nodded. “It’s a strange custom.”

“It lets everyone start equal,” I said. “Otherwise, people inherit status from their parents.”

“But to do without that, you have to do what Plato says and have all the children grow up anonymous, don’t you? That was part of Plato’s vision.”

“About half of us in the City do grow up in nurseries not knowing our parents. And everyone in Athenia and Psyche,” I said. “And it is better that way for being equal, only as it happens lots of people like to live together and raise their own children. So the way we do it is a kind of compromise. We try hard not to consider the status of the parents, if we know it, when looking at the ephebe candidates. Those of us who are guardians are forbidden to discriminate in favor of our own children, and we never make decisions about what class they should be. We never serve on any committees that consider them. We do get family traditions and all that kind of thing, though we try not to. Our family is one of the worst, because of Pytheas being a god. But even so we’re not all Gold.” Though I was, of course. I felt very aware of my pin. I knew I had earned it through my own merit, but saying so would only make it seem worse.