From this height the long narrow neck of land in the bend of the river, that was to be their city, could be clearly seen. All of the vegetation was yellow and dead—except for a green line in the distance.

“The wall of thorns,” Ambalasi said with satisfaction, the first sign of pleasure she had displayed this day. “The fungus infection has killed off the rest of the plant life—it goes without my saying that the thorns are immune—and the animals have fled or died for lack of nourishment. It is almost time for our ecology to replace the native one.”

“You will plant the seed of the city and it will grow high and strong.” Enge signed great pleasure—which vanished before the angry burst of Ambalasi’s anger.

“End-of-intelligence, closure-of-mind. I make some attempt to study your absurd philosophy—is it asking too much for you to pay attention and understand the most basic facts of the biological sciences? Why are we living in discomfort on this swampy island? We are doing that because it is surrounded by water—as are all islands. The swift-moving stream protects us from being consumed by the carnivores of the mainland. It also means we sleep under rough covering and eat only the few tasteless fish that your sisters so reluctantly catch. We do this while we wait for the wall of thorns to grow that will protect our city. And while we do this we admire and feed the young hèsotsan so they will mature quickly and supply us with weapons to defend ourselves. We do this while we wait for the boats in the pond to mature so we can use them instead of the uruketo which is not suited for inshore work. What we do not do is plant the highly-precious city seed!”

“Interrogative expressed with humble desire for knowledge. Why not?”

“Why not? Why not?” Ambalasi’s ragged crest flared red, as did the palms of her outstretched hands. “Because if we planted it at this time it would be eaten by worms, consumed by beetles, destroyed by fungus, crushed under foot by one of your clumsy Daughters!”

“Now I understand,” Enge said calmly. “Apologies extended for ignorance.”

Ambalasi turned to look across the river, muttering to herself with sharp growls and twitches of her limbs. When she had composed herself she picked up the lecture again.