‘Good friend,’ Wana said.

Simbaikan lifted her hand, sniffed the back of it, turned it and pressed her nose to the inside of her elbow. Another sniff, then a wide grin. ‘Saltwater woman. Strongtru.’ Relief.

Laedi put her hand on Simbaikan’s arm. ‘Okay?’

‘Now I have a beer,’ Simbaikan said.

A waiter had come out to the veranda with a tray. Bottles of beer were sweating in the warm air. Milton took two, balanced them on the veranda rail. He leaned over to see where they’d fall, moved one to the floor. Trucks on the road into town blew up a trail of dust that drifted slowly upwards. The vice-chancellor’s house was on the edge of the valley, higher up, across the road from the housing compound. The sun was setting, a gold rim of light behind the mountains to the west.

The vice-chancellor was making his way through the crowd with Michael Somare, the new leader of the new party in the House of Assembly. Every eye was on him, the man of the future, formally dressed in a tailored sulu that wrapped around him like a kilt. He was nodding to long-socked bureaucrats from the administrator’s office. A benign smile. The vice-chancellor stopped for an introduction, Somare shook a visiting hand, touched a local arm. On his other side was Derek, an Australian from the politics department who was already acting as an advisor. They spoke to a professor from Harvard, another from Melbourne. Leonard was introduced. Somare already knew Alex Penrose. Gina was next to him, his hand on her back as if to encourage her forward – Martha and Rika raised a querying eye – and Somare gave a slight nod of his head. He tapped Alex on the shoulder, said something to Leonard. More laughter, more smiles, and on they went, Somare flanked on one side by the vice-chancellor, and on the other by Derek.

Rika watched. It was like a novel, she thought, arriving in a new place. It took a while to learn the characters, to know who to watch. Somare. Had he been the politician at the first party? She didn’t think so, it had been a blur that night; she knew nothing. Now Wana was standing next to her giving a commentary. The House of Assembly had just had its second election, she said. ‘We’ve got our own members at last. The UN pushed and Australia gave way, same as with the university. And still the Australians talk of slow progress.’ Rika could hear exasperation in Wana’s voice. ‘They’re supposed to act on the bills passed by the House, but the minister is good at putting in amendments.’

Rika didn’t know there was a minister.

‘He’s in Canberra,’ Wana said. ‘He’s ancient, looks like a relic from another world.’

‘And he can tell us what to do up here?’

‘He’s the minister.’ Wana laughed at the surprise on Rika’s face. ‘Don’t worry, it won’t last long. Somare will get self-government. Five years, I reckon, not much more.’