The Prince rolled his eyes and smiled.

“He won’t break the peace now because of Benedict,” said the Prince looking directly at Derek. “Rhoshamandes can live with slights and live with failure. He’s protected from fatal pride by a near-fatal smallness of soul.”

“And more use to you alive than dead,” said Kapetria.

Marius appeared to be thinking this over. Then, “Thousands of years before I came into existence he was alive, walking the earth as we say.” He paused. “We don’t really want to…” His words gave out.

“I understand,” said Kapetria. “I read enough of your pages to understand.” This is what she called their books, their “pages.”

Marius nodded and smiled. He didn’t smile often, but when he did, he looked youthful and human just for an instant, rather than like an ancient Roman carved on a frieze.

“And we have so many things we must do now,” said the Prince. “We have to make a credo, make rules, make some way of enforcing rules.”

Marius kept his eyes on Kapetria. “So where will you go now?” Marius asked. “Will you actually leave here without telling us where we might find you?”

This was a continuation of yesterday’s argument and Derek felt himself tensing all over, fearful that these creatures were not going to let them go after all, that they’d never planned to let them go.

But Kapetria took it in stride.

“Marius, we have places, places that are our very own. Surely you understand how much we need this time together.”

“I know you’re increasing in numbers as we speak,” said Marius, “and I can’t blame you for it. But when will you stop? What do you plan to do?”

“As I told you last night,” said Kapetria, “we need this time together to know one another. Can you not see it from our point of view?”

“I see it, but it troubles me,” he answered. “Why not take Gregory’s offer to live and work in Paris? Why withdraw from us in such secrecy when we’ve all sworn that we are eternal friends?”

What was the Prince thinking now, the Prince who was smiling and looking off as he listened?

“If for no other reason than that I must answer their questions,” said Kapetria, “as to all I’ve learned about us these last few years. And I have to study the new ones. I have to come to some sort of understanding of what they know and don’t know, and just how knowledge is passed on, and what are the qualities of that knowledge in the new ones, and what might be their weaknesses. Look, I’m being completely open with you. My first obligation is to the colony, and I have to take the colony into seclusion.”