Kalico gave the girl a glance from the corner of her eye as she cupped her whiskey. “You’re not alone. Took me a while and a couple of figurative bloody noses to figure out how these crazy libertarians think.”

“Yeah,” Kylee climbed off the stool. “Well, for the moment, I’ve got to pee.”

Talina wiped her lips, and said, “I’ll show you where and how—”

Kylee arched a chastening brow. “I lived at Mundo, Ta Li Na. We had plumbing. I know how to use a stool. Don’t worry, I won’t pee on the floor. Just point out where the toilet’s at.”

“There,” Talina pointed to the back of the room. “It’s behind the stairs. Through the aquajade-wood door. It’s communal. Stalls on the right, urinals on the left.”

Talina saw Kylee’s sudden hesitation as she realized that she’d be crossing forty meters of open floor by herself. Sort of like walking a gauntlet of staring strangers. Talina said, “You sure you don’t want me—”

“Hey, I got this,” Kylee half growled as she set off across the paving stones.

Talina muttered, “Maybe I ought to—”

“You’ll embarrass her,” Shig noted, beneficent gaze following the young woman as she strode purposefully down the aisle, head up, eyes fixed straight ahead.

“Got to give her credit,” Dek said. “She’s doing better than I thought she would.”

“She tried to steal Inga’s fork,” Kalico reminded.

“Trade,” Talina corrected, seeing Kylee reach the door to the toilets. “And we’re going to have to teach her what a handshake means.”

“What do you hear from Turalon?” Dek asked, turning back to his plate and forking a cube of roasted crest.

Kalico took a sip of her whiskey. “They’re about four days out. Tallia O’Hanley’s been getting a steady stream of messages now that the delay is down to a couple of minutes. She records them, sends a reply that the Supervisor will take them under advisement, and piles them in a stack. Anything that’s really important, she sends a query to Two Spot, and he lets me know. Most of the stack is filled with demands and interrogatives that are just plain silly.”

“That’s what we were discussing when you arrived,” Shig said. “Obviously, they’re going to have to make planet here. PA is the only place with housing and amenities. For once, the cargo is moderately useful, things we need to fix some of our broken equipment. Given that most of what they carry is meant for PA, we’ll broker an equitable compensation in siddars that will pay for their lodging and provide spending currency for the crew and transportees.”