One half of the Temple boundary was formed by a river, and a tributary of it flowed through the holy ground. There were many pleasant leafy places along this tributary where a priest or priestess could find quiet and solitude for contemplation and prayer. The mouth of it was guarded to prevent outsiders disrupting the quiet, but if a visitor carried the right permission token he or she could ride the shallow Temple boats into the grounds.

Auraya’s favorite place on the river was a small whitestone pavilion. Stairs led down to the water on one side, where bollards allowed boats to be tied up. At the moment a veez was balancing on the rounded top of one bollard, investigating it closely. He looked up at the next post and Auraya caught her breath as he sprang toward it. Landing neatly, he leapt again, jumping from one bollard to the next.

“I do hope you can swim, Mischief,” she said. “One mistake and you’re going to fall in the river.”

Having reached the last bollard, he stood up on his hind legs and blinked at her.

“Owaya,” he said. In a blur of movement, he jumped down from the post, bounded to her seat and leapt into her lap.

“Snack?” he asked, gazing up into her eyes.

She laughed and scratched his cheeks. “No snacks.”

“Tweet?”

“No treats.”

“Food?”

“No food.”

“Titfit?”

“No titbits.”

He paused. “Niffle?”

“No nibbles.” She waited, but he stayed silent, gazing imploringly at her. “Later,” she told him.

The veez’s sense of time was limited. He understood “night” and “day,” and the phases of the moon, but had no understanding of smaller units of time. She could not tell him “in a few minutes” so she made do with “later,” which simply meant “not now.”

He was a strange and amusing companion. Whenever she returned to her rooms he bounded up to her, saying her name over and over. It was hard to resist such a welcome. She tried to find an hour each day to work on his training, as the Somreyans recommended, but she was lucky to manage more than a few minutes. Yet he learned quickly, so perhaps this was enough.

Finding a name for him had been a challenge. After she had heard that Mairae’s veez was named Stardust she decided she must find something less fanciful. Danjin had told her of a rich old lady who had named hers Virtue—apparently so she could always end a conversation with “but I do treasure my Virtue.” Now, when Auraya discussed her plans each morning with Danjin, he always smiled when she told him: “I must put aside some time for Mischief.”