“You said they were all men.”

“It’s just what one says.”

“What did they do for a living?”

“What does that matter?”

“Details matter.”

“Let’s say they were fisher people.”

“Were the men in on this together? Or was it just the young man who knows how the trick is done?”

“Just the young man.”

Lilia pondered that. “If I was old and I didn’t know any letters, what letter would I know? What symbols? I don’t know. That just doesn’t happen in Dhai.”

“So, you give up? Just like you give up learning to channel the satellites?”

“You’re not giving me enough information.”

“You can’t even think through a proper problem,” Taigan said. “Perhaps that’s why Oma’s breath eludes you.”

“Your litanies and songs don’t go anywhere,” Lilia said. “There’s no… no problem.”

“The problem is you’re shaping up to be a very poor omajista.”

“Just because you want me to be something–”

“Here’s a problem for you,” Taigan said. He scuffed away the large stones on the ground before them and drew a circle in the dirt. Then he placed three sets of six stones facing one another. It looked much like a game board. “We have two opposing forces here,” Taigan said. “The line of stones closest to you is the defending force. The line closest to me is the offensive. You have three legions of mounted cavalry, two with long-range weapons, and one infantry. I have four mounted cavalry and two infantry. If I move my mounted cavalry forward–” Taigan pushed four of his stones toward her. “How would you respond?”

“This is a war game. We don’t play war games.”

“Then pretend we’re throwing bread at one another,” Taigan said. “While riding bears.”

Lilia contemplated the stones. It was like a game of bendar, she decided. “I move one of my ranged fighters to flank you on the right and meet your cavalry with mine.” She took her two infantry stones and one ranged fighter stone and positioned them on the left flank of the cavalry. “I meet your exposed infantry with my ranged fighters, clear them with my infantry, and once they are out, have them come at the cavalry from the rear, with the support of the ranged fighters.”

Taigan scrutinized her. “You said you didn’t play war games.”

“We learn about war,” Lilia said. “I studied all the great Dhai battles from before our exile. They made me better at strategy games. I won against my friend Roh all the time. I even played Oras and novices sometimes.”

“You’re serious?”

She shrugged. “I studied a lot of things.”

“You never mentioned this.”

“I studied anatomy, too, and agricultural science. I studied magic, and astronomy, and plant biology. I didn’t clean sinks all the time.”

“You are serious about everyone in Dhai knowing how to read?”