d. It s too cold for us to stay out just yet… though the time s coming. We re heading for the dwelling now this white structure. Come on inside. She led the way toward the back door, Spot pacing her. Sker ret came trundling along behind, followed by Roshaun, with Filif bringing up the rear. And these other structures built so close to your dwelling, Roshaun said, looking left and right as they approached the house, more members of your species live in these as well That s right, Dairine said. They are perhaps an extended kinship group Roshaun said. Members of your family Oh, no, Dairine said. As I said, they re just our neighbors. Neighbors, Roshaun said, as if trying out a completely unfamiliar word. It s fascinating. At home, it wouldn t be permitted. Dairine stopped halfway up the stairs to the back door. Not permitted she said. By whom Roshaun looked at Dairine as if she were insane. By us, he said. Our family wouldn t want, you know, people looking at them. And the word he used wasn t the plural of the one in the Speech that meant person, fellow sentient being ; it was one that meant a being markedly less advanced than you in the Great Scheme of Things. Usually the word was used affectionately, or at worst in a neutral mode, for creatures that were aware in some mode but not quite sentient. But Roshaun s tone of voice seemed to put an extra unpleasant spin on it, turning the word into something more like lowlife. Dairine stood there wondering if she was suffering from low blood sugar or something of the kind. It has to be me, she said. No one could be so offensive on purpose and if he s doing it accidentally, then it s not his fault. Why am I finding it so hard to cut him some slack It must be very lonely for you, then, Dairine said, as politely as she could. Oh, no, Roshaun said, I wouldn t say that… The phrasing caught Dairine s attention sharply as she opened the screen door. You wouldn t say it because it would be true, she thought. That insight, if it was one, she filed away for later study. My father, she said, isn t here right now. He s still at work. But he ll be along in an hour or so. What does he work at Sker ret said. He s a florist, Dairine said as they went in the back door into the kitchen. Filif looked at her with many more berries than previously. A doctor! he said. Uh Dairine paused. She d translated the English word into the Speech a little loosely, but it struck her as a good idea, on second thought, not to get into the minutiae of floristry any more clearly right now…especially since the image suddenly rose before her mind of what her dad actually did with the flowers in his shop. Yeah, my dad takes the corpses of things that grow in the ground and then arranges them in tasteful designs. She could just hear herself telling Filif that. He does landscaping, too, she said hurriedly, having to search around a little for the closest word the Speech had for that. There were several possibilities, but she didn t think the word for terraforming was going to be appropriate here, so she selected a word that implied a smaller scale of operations. Oh, an architect, Filif said. That s a good thing to do for people! Yes… Dairine said, wishing she d had a little more time to think about the implications of having a sentient vegetable in the house. Well, I was the one who couldn t wait to have them here, she thought. Now they re here, and I m just going to have to deal with it. Come on in, Dairine said, and we ll get you guys settled. Does anyone want some dinner Dinner Filif said. Things to eat, Dairine said, as they walked toward the house. Dinner is the name of the meal we eat, starting around this time of day. Definitely! Sker ret said. What have you got All kinds of things, Dairine said. We ll see if we can t find you something that will suit your tastes…not to mention your physiologies. This she said, indicating the kitchen is where we do our cooking, Dairine said. Roshaun simply looked around again with that uninterested, down-his-nose expression, but Filif and Sker ret turned all around, staring at everything in fascination. Cooking Filif said. What s that What do you eat that needs to be cooked Sker ret said. I can see this is going to take some explaining, Dairine said. It s partly a physiology thing for my people, and partly cultural. But, look, before we get into that, you re going to want to set up your personal worldgates and your pup tents. The pup tents… She thought about that for a moment. Sometimes, this time of year, the weather can be unpredictable. Probably it s going to be more convenient for you if you put the pup tents down in the basement. Where s that Sker ret said. Down the stairs here, Dairine said. Right by where we came in. See that door That s the one. Down there Dairine led the way down the stairs. Sker ret flowed down them past her; Dairine looked over her shoulder to see how Filif was managing. She couldn t see what his roots were doing through the decency field, but he seemed to be having no trouble negotiating the stairs. Is this okay for you Dairine said. Filif made a little hissing noise that Dairine realized was a chuckle. I go up and down cliffs all the time at home, he said. This is a lot less trouble. What s this place for What s down here Uh, Dairine said, and then was tempted to laugh. Nearly everything. It was true enough. Dairine couldn t remember when the basement had last been cleaned out. The washing machine and clothes dryer were down here, and so was the furnace for the house s central heating. Both of those were off on the left side of the stairs, toward the front of the house. But the rest of the basement … it was a farrago of old lawn furniture, indoor furniture that had been demoted to the basement and never thrown out, a decrepit bicycle or two, cardboard boxes full of old clothes and paperback books that were meant to go to the local thrift store, an old broken chest freezer, in which Dairine s mom had once at tempted to raise earthworms Dairine found herself wondering whether she should bother being embarrassed about the mess, since at least one of her guests seemed to have no idea what a basement was for. She glanced at Roshaun, who was now looking around with an expression that was more difficult to read. A storage area, Roshaun said. It was the first thing he d said that hadn t instantly sounded obnoxious. Sort of, Dairine said. Though it s gotten a little…cluttered. Has it Roshaun said. I wouldn t be an expert in clutter. Dairine sighed. I wish I weren t, she said. Anyway she indicated the bare cinder-block wall that was the south wall of the basement since you need a matter substrate to deploy your gates on, that should do. And you can leave the pup-tent accesses down here as well. For a few moments, they were all busy getting out the prepackaged wizardries. Sker ret appeared to reach into one of the front segments of his body to pull out the two little tangles of light that Dairine knew they would all be carrying. Roshaun reached into an interior pocket of his ornate over-robe for his own pup-tent access, hanging it on the air and turning away from it, unconcerned. Filif, though, didn t do anything that Dairine could see…but a moment later, his pup-tent access was hanging in the air next to Roshaun s, and from a single branch, which he d pushed out a little past the main bulk of his greenery, there depended a little strip of darkness. Dairine watched as he flung it at the concrete wall. There the darkness clung and ran down the wall, the black patch widening as it went. After a few seconds there was a roughly triangular-shaped patch of darkness in the concrete wall, the size of Filif s body. Light fell into that darkness and was completely absorbed. Sker ret was doing the same with his own customized worldgate. He reared up with it held in his front mandibles and plastered it against the gray cement of the wall. That darkness, too, ran down to create a lower, more archlike shape, black as a cutout piece of night. Standing in front of it, Sker ret thrust a front claw into it; the claw vanished up to the second joint. Roshaun turned away, heading back up the steps. Aren t you going to set up your gate Dairine said. It can wait awhile, Roshaun said. I m in no hurry. He was halfway up the stairs already, glinting golden in silhouette from the sunlight still coming in through the screen door. Dairine raised her eyebrows, and said to the other two, Come on, and I ll give you the grand tour of the house. There s more Filif said, sounding surprised. Sure, Dairine said. I ll show you. By the time she and the other two were up the stairs, Roshaun had already opened the oven door, and was looking in. If this is a food preparation area, he said, it can t be meant to service very many people. It s not, Dairine said. There are only three of us here. I know about that, Sker ret said. There s you, and your sire, and your sister. He said both the relationship words as if they were strange new alien concepts. Yes, Dairine thought. And if you knew it, why doesn t Roshaun know it That s right, Dairine said. Roshaun closed the oven door and looked around him, still with that faintly fancier-than-thou attitude, but also with a slight air of confusion. Even so, he said, looking into the dining room as if he expected to see something there and didn t see it, surely you don t prepare your food yourselves Uh, sure we do, Dairine said. Did I miss something about this guy s profile she thought. I should go back and have another look, because he s really behaving strangely… My sister s better at it that I am, but I should be able to manage something. Sker ret was up on his hind legs, or some of them, carefully inserting a couple of claws into a cupboard door. I ll be glad to help you, he said. What s in here Is this where you keep the food He pulled the cupboard door open literally. It came off its hinges, and Sker ret put his head end into the cupboard, holding the door off to one side as he rummaged around. What are all these bright-colored things he said, taking out packages and jars and cans, holding them up, and staring at them with many stalked eyes. Uh, yeah, those are all kinds of food. It s just that, you want to watch out for the ones in the glass Crash! went two of the jars that Sker ret was holding in his claws. It became increasingly apparent that Sker ret did not know his own strength. The shower of broken glass, various kinds of canning juices, and things like asparagus and peas and peaches in a jar, was shortly joined by more leakage from cans that Sker ret was holding with his other claws. Roshaun and Filif looked on this, fascinated, but neither saying anything. Oh, I m sorry, these are very fragile, aren t they Sker ret said. Were those supposed to do that Not exactly, Dairine said, hoping against hope that she could stop this catastrophe before it got much further along, and get it cleaned up before her dad got home. Why don t you let me take care of that, and I ll just Crash! Oh no, Sker ret said, I am sorry about that. Several more jars and bottles fell down and either smashed on the counter or bounced off the floor; a few glass jars bounced and then smashed when they came down the second time. Both Filif and Roshaun crowded carefully back out of the way, and looked at Dairine to see what she would do. Dairine let out a long breath, and started carefully across the wet, glass-crunchy floor toward the basement steps, where a mop and broom were kept. His claws clutched full of the remains of various cans and bottles, Sker ret looked after Dairine with a number of its eyes. Where are you going he said. Well, Dairine said, I could do a wizardry, but sometimes a mop makes more sense… What s a mop Filif said. It s a thing we use to clean up the floor if something wet s gotten on it To clean it up Sker ret said, sounding shocked. But we haven t had anything yet Dairine opened her mouth to say something, and then completely forgot what, as Sker ret began to eat. He ate the glass. He ate the cans. He ate the asparagus, and the peas, and the canned tomatoes, and every other foodstuff that had fallen on the floor. He slurped up every bit of liquid. And when he was done, he looked around him, and with his foreclaws, he picked up the torn-off cupboard door, which he had carefully set aside while dealing with the canned goods. Not the door! Dairine yelled. Sker ret s head turned in some alarm. No No, Dairine said, trying hard to calm herself. I m sorry; that s part of the kitchen. Oh, Sker ret said. My apologies. I didn t realize. Carefully he set the door aside again, and turned his attention downward. No, no, no, no, Dairine said. Leave the floor! Somewhat bemused, Sker ret cocked a few eyes back at Dairine, shrugged some of his legs, and began to levitate. Roshaun was leaning against the counter by the kitchen sink, his arms folded, watching this spectacle with insufferable amusement. Dairine desperately wanted to punch him in the nose, even though he hadn t said a word. Filif was watching, too, though with a far less superior air. Maybe it s the berries, Dairine thought. It s hard to look supercilious when you have berries hanging off you. The back door opened. All four of the occupants of the kitchen looked up, startled. Dairine s father came in, closed the door behind him, and looked at his daughter, the young man, the centipede, and the tree. Hello, everybody, Harry Callahan said. Filif, Roshaun, and the gently floating Sker ret all looked at Dairine s dad. Then they all looked at Dairine, waiting to take their cue from her. Dairine had rarely been more embarrassed to have her father turn up without warning or more relieved. Daddy! she said. Who s in the store Mike s there for the rest of the day, her dad said. Mike was his new assistant, whom he d taken on a few weeks back: a young guy just out of high school who had been looking for a job and was good with flowers. It s been a slow afternoon, anyway. I m not needed there. Who re your friends Dairine looked at her dad sidewise, admiring his cool, especially since she knew he d done his reading and knew perfectly well who these people were. There he stood, acting like a man who had aliens in his house every day. And he had looked right at the cupboard door and not even mentioned it. This is Filif, she said. Filif, this is my father. I am honored to meet the stock from which the shoot proceeds, Filif said. He rustled all over, bending a little bit like a tree in a wind. Dairine was relieved to see that her dad must have the briefing pack somewhere about his person, as he was plainly understanding the Speech that Filif was using. Well, you re very welcome, Dairine s father said. And this is Sker ret… Well met on the journey, Sker ret said. Dairine s dad reached out to take the claw that Sker ret offered him. You don t have to float there like that, he said. The floor s not so clean in here that you need to be afraid to walk on it. He glanced to one side. Something wrong with the cupboard It came off, Sker ret said. That happens, Dairine s dad said. Just leave it there for the time being; we ll put it back where it belongs later. He turned to Roshaun. And this is Roshaun, Dairine said. … ke Nelaid am Seriv am Teliuyve am Meseph am Veliz am Teriaunst am det Wellakhit, Roshaun said, and to Dairine s mortification, looked at her dad as if expecting him to bow. Her dad s response took just a fraction of a second longer this time. Make yourself right at home, he said to Roshaun. But then I see you already have. He turned away from Roshaun with exactly the same matter-of-fact motion that Dairine had seen her dad use with customers who were wasting his time at the counter. So let s all go into the living room and sit down. What s on the agenda, Dairine She recognized the code her father rarely called her by her whole name unless there was trouble of some kind. At least for once, the cause of the trouble wasn t her or if it was, she was only the indirect cause. All of them followed her dad into the living room, and Dairine said, They ve spent the day traveling, and I was thinking maybe some food would be nice… Absolutely. I could do with some dinner myself. We can sit and relax and get acquainted. Any thoughts Well, I thought maybe something neutral. She glanced at Roshaun, who was looking around their living room with an expression of badly concealed confusion, as if he d found people living in a hole in the ground and liking it. Some fruit drinks to start with, maybe, and then… Dairine was grasping at possibilities; this was more Nita s specialty than hers. I don t know, maybe something vegetarian… That sounds nice, Filif said. Something to do with my people. What s it mean H