“But of course I meant not near silbercows! In some part of the water where nothing is!”

“And where’s that?” cried Nev, still indignant. “What part of the ocean’s ecosystem is expendable?”

“Well, I don’t know!” said Lovisa, taking a few steps back, turning away. “I don’t know anything about the ocean.” And now Nev was angry with her and she couldn’t bear it.

“Lovisa,” said Nev quietly. “I’m sorry. I misunderstood. Of course you meant well.”

But Lovisa didn’t want Nev’s apologies. She found a hard chair in a dark corner of the room and sat there, bending over Worthy, pretending he needed her attention.

“Katu,” said Bitterblue. “What will you do now?”

Katu’s neck, if possible, was even more stiff when he was talking to Bitterblue than to Giddon. “My doctor’s told me to rest,” he said, “for an absurdly long time. She says I’ve endured an extreme ordeal. But I feel fine, really. I just need to eat, and build some muscle.”

“I’m sorry this happened because you were trying to figure out what became of my men,” said Bitterblue.

“I’m sorry about what became of your men,” said Katu, finally looking straight at Bitterblue, with an unhappy appeal in his face that solved the mystery of Katu’s strange stiffness. Lovisa now understood why Bitterblue had recognized Katu’s ring at a glance. And why Katu had been so concerned about the queen, the day of the rescue.

Lovisa searched inside herself for her own anger about Bitterblue and Katu, about everyone being lovers. About someone rejecting her uncle. She couldn’t find it. She didn’t care. People were stupid. Pigs were infinitely more worthwhile.

Then Katu stood up.

“Are you staying in Torla’s Neck?” Lovisa called from her corner, in a voice that broke. “Or are you going back to Ledra? Or traveling again?”

He turned his bright eyes to her, stretching his arms above his head like a man who’d worked a hard day, and was tired, and needed a long sleep before the next adventure. He wore his ring; it slid along his thumb, like a bracelet on a very small wrist. “I’m sure I’ll go back to Ledra before too long,” he said, smiling. “Isn’t that where you’ll be?”

“I—we’ll see,” she said.

Then everyone was standing, moving toward each other, people saying their goodbyes to Katu.

When Nev stood up, she came to Lovisa. “Your uncle’s hoping to see you in Ledra too,” she said, looking down at Lovisa with quiet eyes.

“I’m sorry I said the ignorant thing about the silbercows,” said Lovisa.

“It’s all right,” said Nev. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“I don’t know anything about the ocean. I mean, really. I’ve never thought about it.”