“Did it have a name?” Joao asked.
Ukatonen shook his head. “My people do not name animals. They simply are. Sometimes we tame them, but they are not really pets, not as you humans know them. We tame them to understand their nature better.”
It was an awkward moment, until Moki broke the tension. “Mr. Xaviera, when can we see the forest?”
He smiled down at Moki. “How about right now?”
They followed him out of the aviary, and down a path into the jungle. Soon they were surrounded by tall trees.
“This is the oldest part of the forest,” Mr. Xaviera explained. “These trees were planted by my grandfather. I look at them, and feel young.”
Moki and Ukatonen were both looking up at the trees, their skin blue-grey with longing.
“Mr. Xaviera, can we climb these trees?” Moki asked.
“Are you sure you can climb them safely?”
Moki nodded.
“And you will not hurt any of the plants or animals?”
“Yes, Mr. Xaviera, we will be careful,” Moki said reassuringly.
“Is it all right with you, Juna?”
“Of course, Mr. Xaviera. They’re both expert climbers, and I can assure you that the creatures and plants will not be harmed.”
“Then please,” he said spreading his hands palms upward, “be my guests.”
Moki scrambled up the trunk of the nearest tree. Uka-tonen followed him, moving as swiftly as his dignity would allow. They were up the tree and out of sight in less than a minute.
“Wow! Just like a monkey!” Joao said, staring upward, his mouth agape in amazement. Then he remembered himself, and looked embarrassed.
“Joao!” Quang Nguyen snapped. “That’s no way to talk about our guests.”
Juna laughed. “It’s all right, Quang Nguyen. Sometimes they remind me of monkeys, too, but they’re much more civilized. Look at them now,” she said, pointing at the two Tendu flickering blue and green as they leaped through the trees, the lighter gravity making it look as though they were flying. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
It took the Xavieras a while to pick them out, but finally she saw Joao’s face open in delighted recognition, and then Quang Nguyen saw them too. Juna watched them wistfully, longing to climb with them, but held down by her human responsibilities.
“I’m afraid that they’ll be up there for a while,” she said apologetically. “It’s been a long time since they’ve been in an environment that was anything like their own.”
Quang Nguyen smiled. “I understand. I feel much the same way when I’m back in Vietnam. I’m glad we are able to make them happy. May I show you the rest of the compound?”
He gave her the grand tour, introducing her to various members of the family as they encountered them, making a particular effort to bring eligible bachelors to her attention.
“This is one of our retreats,” he told Juna. “Most of the people here are on family leave or sabbatical. We encourage the members of our family to take long family leaves, and allow a two-year sabbatical once every seven years. After all, what is the point of having wealth if one does not have the time to enjoy it?”
Juna smiled but didn’t comment, not really knowing what to say to this. She had never thought about what it would be like to be wealthy. The idea felt strange to her.
The clamor of children’s voices came to her. They rounded a corner and were facing a schoolhouse with a large, well-equipped playground filled with children.
“This is our school,” Quang Nguyen said. “It has just let out for the day.”
“Surely these are not all your children!” Juna exclaimed.
He shook his head, his dark eyes alight with amusement. “No, most of them are from Copernicus City. We take as many of their best and brightest as we can, and we run a lottery, giving chances to the poorest thirty percent of the families. It gives us an interesting mix of students. Only about five percent of the students are actually family members.”
“Sir, my shift is over,” Joao said. “May I please be excused?”
“I’m sorry, Joao. Please run along.”
“It’s been a pleasure serving you, Dr. Saari. I liked meeting the Tendu.”
“Thank you, Joao. Please feel free to come and visit us later, if you wish. I know Moki would like to get to know you better.”
“Thank you, Dr. Saari!” Joao bowed and ran off.
“Mr. Xaviera, may I ask you a personal question?”
“Please, go ahead.”
“I notice that your children work as servants. Why is this?”
“That is a very good question, my dear,” he said, sitting down on a bench. “Employing our children as servants has been Xaviera family policy for several generations. We even emigrated from the Earth to the Moon in order to continue doing so.
“Many of our children will go on to run large organizations. We feel that it’s important for them to learn to serve before they learn to rule. That way they do not take their privilege for granted. We are very strict with them during the years they are in service to the family. They must each work three days a week, and make up for the schooling that they miss. We have tutors to help them. They are paid what we would pay a regular servant. Half of this money goes into a fund that they receive when they reach majority. The other half is theirs to spend, save, or invest.”
He smiled. “I invested most of my spending money in an older cousin’s start-up company. We lost our shirts, but we learned a great deal from the experience. What we ask our children to do is both difficult and controversial, but I was raised that way, and I feel that it was a valuable experience. As a servant, I learned things that I never would have in school, things that served me well, and are still serving me well.”
“You know,” Juna said thoughtfully, “this is very similar to how the Tendu treat their bami. I assume that Moki would also be expected to serve?”
Quang Nguyen looked surprised. “We had not really thought about that.”
“He is my adopted child,” Juna pointed out.
“I apologize. How old is Moki?”
“There’s no way to know for sure, but Ukatonen thinks he’s about thirty-six Tendu-years-old, which would make him approximately thirty-three or thirty-four Earth-years-old.”
Quang Nguyen raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“The Tendu mature very differently than we do,” Juna explained. “In many ways, Moki is more independent than a human child. He would make a good servant. He is extremely obedient, and he already has many of the necessary skills. But,” she continued, “he has a deeply stubborn streak. It does not show itself often, but when it does, he would rather die than give up.
“He nearly died twice,” Juna recalled. “Once when he was trying to get me to become his sitik, and again when he tried to sneak on board our starship, so that he could go with me. Both times it was because he refused to give up.”
“I see,” Quang Nguyen remarked. There was a long silence.
“It’s the Tendu, isn’t it? That’s why your family is interested in me.”
“It would be counterproductive to lie,” he said. “Humanity stands to gain a great deal from the Tendu. They stand to gain a great deal from us. An alliance would be very advantageous to our family, but I think you underrate yourself, my dear. You are young, intelligent, and beautiful. More importantly, you are strong and determined. You survived four difficult years among the Tendu. You brokered a most impressive treaty; and you have withstood and triumphed over some extremely powerful political pressure.”
“I had help,” Juna said. “Without the Tendu, I would have died on Tiangi. Some of the finest minds of both our people helped to forge that treaty. And Mr. Manning, and Analin Goudrian helped get us out of quarantine.”