Grace. I do apologize for the journalists. We have to let them in, you know.” She waved a hand at a short, round girl in flowing fabrics that Kiem recognized as Hani Sereson’s partner, whom he’d last seen behind a cam lens just after he’d fallen into the central canal. She gave them a brilliant smile and started taking rapid-fire photos. Jainan, in the corner of Kiem’s vision, seemed to shift very subtly into the background. Kiem moved forward to cover him and gave the camera a wave.

“And congratulations, may I say?” the Chancellor continued, turning to Jainan. “Let me shake your hand.” Jainan’s eyebrows rose slightly as she crushed his hand in her grip. Kiem grinned at him and also accepted a bone-bruising handshake. “Always a delight to have palace support. A delight.”

“No, no, pleasure’s all mine,” Kiem said, extracting his hand, somewhat the worse for wear. “Especially since I know several professors are thinking something about bad pennies turning up. Have you met Jainan, by the way?”

The photographer finished a last set of shots and moved on. “He came to one of your lectures a while ago. Has a doctorate in deep-space engineering—extraction of something I can’t pronounce from asteroids. I can now come to this sort of thing on his coattails.”

Jainan looked embarrassed. “It was a long time ago,” he said. “And it was nothing groundbreaking.”

“Oh come on, it’s still a doctorate, ” Kiem said. This just succeeded in making Jainan freeze up.

“Can’t have been that long ago,” the Chancellor said. “Long ago is for us decrepit wrecks to use.” She caught the arm of a professor going past them in a black official gown. “Isn’t that right, Professor Audel?”

“Eh?” Professor Audel said, turning around. Her long, graying hair straggled down her back, held out of her face with clips. “Decrepit wrecks? You or me?”

“I think the Chancellor’s implying some of us are young and irresponsible,”

Kiem said, holding out his hand again. “Pleased to meet you, Professor. What field do you work in?”

“Professor Audel is one of our foremost engineering experts,” the Chancellor said. “Audel, Count Jainan is an academic engineer from Thea. You three must have a lot to talk about.” She clapped both Jainan and Professor Audel on the shoulder and shook Kiem’s hand again, pulverizing the few bones that she’d left intact on the last round. “Do excuse me, sire. Must get to the old meeting-and-greeting. Look forward to talking to you later. I’m sure you’ll be asking all your normal questions about our outreach programs.”

Kiem had been deputized by two separate charities to do just that, and he shrugged good-humoredly. “You know me too well, Chancellor.”

“Regolith extraction, eh?” Professor Audel was saying. “Interesting, very interesting. We have four people on regolith rigs and solar shielding right now.