Peddling back, Connie's mind was in a whirl trying to dissect what Tessa told her. Selchia. The Dahrian word for the Americas. And Tessa said, flying. Could that be? Dahria has airplanes? Or maybe it's very fast sailing ships that fly across the ocean. And all that business about Crustic – 'no important tomorrow'? Surely that confirms that Tessa believes the Ireland passage is closing and that she's not a part of any conspiracy to open up Dahria to Mr. Hasting's mining interests.

When they got back to Octo, Rennish was in the common room. She held up the embroidered shift that Harnell had been working on, "Here. You can wear this."

"But what will you wear, Harnell?"

"I have something else. Anyway, I'm not going tonight." Harnell went into her rooms.

"I thought it was time you saw more of Dahria. You've come at a special time as Brodurne only happens every two years, and it's held in our Crustic domain only every six years. You should experience a little of that." Rennish's mellifluous tone no longer soothed Connie but rather she questioned the older woman's true intent.

Rennish continued, "The story has slowly spread that you are a signaler from Selchia and got stranded so you came to the Ladore Passage. There will be many who speak travel English at the event tonight. Maybe even some who have been to Selchia. I'll keep you clear of any who might know it well. Mostly we'll be watching the program. After it's over, I'll have Fanik take you back to Octo."

"Thank you, Rennish. I'm looking forward to this. I feel bad though, am I taking Harnell's place? And this beautiful dress. What about Peter? I'm guessing he won't be coming."

"Peter is making good progress, but he needs a little more time. Don't worry about Harnell. She'll see lots of Brodurne. Come now, change your clothes and we'll go."

Fanik pedaled the 7-5. They were accompanied by a woman and man who Connie saw frequently in the dining room. Rennish introduced them and said they were also Crustic trackers. Everyone, even Fanik, was dressed beautifully, with stunning fabrics and rich embroidery. It was a short ride into the town.

At last, they were letting Connie see the village up close. She'd been peering at it for days, torn between abiding by Rennish's restrictions until Peter was healthy and striking out on her own. But what could she possibly do on her own? Plus, she'd never leave Peter.

The core of the town sat on a flat area, twenty feet or so above the river. Terraced rows of small buildings covered the hillside. While the Squares and Octo were cloistered, the town felt much more open and welcoming.

In the center stood a large, three-story, semi-circular-shaped stone structure. The second and third stories had spacious balconies overlooking a broad plaza in the open area inside the semi-circle and the river beyond. Several large trees grew in the plaza, and different configurations of seating areas were sprinkled throughout. The first level of the semi-circular structure appeared to house small shops. Many of them had their fronts completely open to the outside.

An esplanade ran along the open side of the plaza and extended beyond either side, the length of the town. It was busy with bicycle and foot traffic. Fanik pedalled the 7-5 onto the esplanade as many people called out greetings. Even the normally grim-faced Fanik smiled and waved. A short distance past the right end of the semi-circular building, Fanik stopped the 7- 5 at the end of a long, covered platform with wide single tracks on either side.

Rennish told Connie, "Get down. Fanik will take care of the 7-5 and join us in a minute. We'll wait and take the next one."

Connie barely heard her. She was gaping at the sleek monorail cars filling with people on the far tracks. In a minute, the doors closed and the train whisked off down the valley. Out of sight in seconds.

"Harnell told me about the fast-trails. I thought it was just extra smooth bike paths. I had no idea."

Rennish laughed, "Glad we can impress you. Now, stay close to me. I will try to prevent any awkward situations."

Shortly after Fanik joined them on the platform, another train appeared, and they all boarded. Rennish explained that the two trains ran on parallel monorails and shunted back and forth to the convening grounds throughout the day and night except for periodic maintenance. The train flew through the countryside.

By Connie's Earthside watch, they were at the convening grounds transport hub within 20 minutes. They came into a circle of monorail terminus points from the other Crustic domain communities surrounding the convening grounds just as Harnell had described with the hanks of embroidery thread.

Next to them a longer train pulled in. Rennish clasped Connie's elbow, "That's the track from the other domains. Come, let's go. If it's people from Yawlag, it will be easier if we avoid them."

She moved Connie along, nodding and smiling at the people disembarking from the Crustic trains. Connie heard the word, "Norry," repeated several times. That was what the two people who dragged her from the passage called her. She now knew it meant 'signaler.' And she had learned enough dialect that she understood when someone said, "Now Rennish has another one."

The walkway from the monorail station came out over a high overlook. Spread before them lay a huge area covered with many structures and demarcated grassy areas. Nearby, a large amphitheatre, at least twice as big as the one in front of the Squares, was built into the hillside. Connie halted to take it all in.

Rennish spoke in her ear. "Let's get to the theatre. Once we're seated, I'll tell you about the convening grounds."

She guided Connie toward cushioned chairs halfway up the middle of the seating area and motioned Fanik to sit on the other side of Connie. They were surrounded by people who frequently ate in the Squares dining room. The seats offered a good view of the expansive grounds.

Rennish pointed out the rows of stalls in the market area; the venues where different sporting events took place; smaller stage areas for a variety of performances; housing for the several thousand visitors from the other domains; and elegant buildings used for the various meetings that would be taking place. It was all beautifully laid out with many pathways and garden areas artfully intertwining everything.

Rennish explained that a small community of people lived at the site year-round. They provided maintenance for the fast-tracks and convening grounds and did extra duty for the Crustic domain convenings three times a year. The community was largely young people who resided on the grounds usually for a two-year rotation, combining their duties with school and various skills training.

"That almost sounds like fun."

"Oh, it is. And you make life-long friendships with people your age in the other Crustic communities. Isn't that right, Fanik?"

A bare nod.

The amphitheatre was filling up. The crowd was striking mixture of ages, gender-types, and the full spectrum of skin tones, hair colors and styles. For the program, each of the domains had an assigned seating area in the amphitheatre that they could allot, or not, however they wished. Crustic and one of the other domains' seating looked to be fairly regulated about who sat where, while the third domain seemed to be more of a free-for-all.

Connie watched their chaotic laughter. "Are those the Yawlag people?"

Rennish laughed, "Oh no." She motioned with her head to a more organized section where many people wore similar headgear and were mainly attired in shades of blues and greens. "That's Yawlag. You're looking at Misgy. They have a looser approach to how they're organized."

Fanik grumped, "I think you could say they have no approach."

Rennish continued, "We often have young people who are attracted to life at Misgy and move there for a while. But most soon move back as there's a lot that doesn't work terribly well."

"But some stay?"

"Of course. Some stay and they thrive in the chaos, as you can see. They rarely take the sports prizes, except for reed-ball, but in storytelling and music, they're quite original. You are fortunate. Lina, from Misgy, is performing tonight. She rarely comes to the bigger events anymore."

Rennish explained that the program would showcase people from each of the domains, some winners from past Brodurnes, and the Crustic children would be presenting a small program. Before things got underway, a number of people came to greet Rennish. As she and Connie were seated in the middle of a row, the greetings were confined to a wave and a shouted word or two. Connie assumed their choice of seating was deliberate to avoid extended conversations.

Rennish leaned toward Connie, "You see how they are all staring at you?"

Connie did. She felt like Rennish was showing her off like a piece of prized livestock at a farm fair. Connie's eyes marked her as a signaler which she now understood was a rare commodity in Dahria, at least in these parts.

It was nearly dark when the show got underway. Connie was surprised she didn't feel chilled sitting in the amphitheatre, and how warm her feet were.

As the stage lights were coming one, she asked Fanik, "Is there thermal heating under us? It's so comfortable here. Is that something you did too? "

"No, before me. My teachers' teachers. No more talking." He shook his head. "You're like a Misgy."

The program captivated Connie, a widely varying assortment of music, speaking, dancing, acrobatics in every sort of combination. Spontaneous and robust audience participation seemed to be the norm, with people singing and swaying arm-in-arm in their seats with familiar songs. Several times elderly people were beckoned to the stage for brief solos.

A highlight for her was Quill's performance, a rhythmic recitation in the children's segment. He had practiced it numerous times in Joyund's greenhouse and tonight's execution was perfect in every way.

Lina, who Rennish mentioned, played last on an instrument that looked and sounded something like a large, resonant hammered dulcimer. For her last songs, more people came on stage with a variety of instruments as the audience stood and sang, many signing in unison, presumably echoing the words with their hands. Every so often, Connie felt she could almost hear a familiar refrain and was unable to hold back her tears as the beautiful sounds stirred her emotions.

As soon as the lights came up, Fanik quickly ushered Connie back to the monorail platform. While they were waiting for the train, Connie felt a tug on her dress. It was Quill.

"High five"

"Hey, High five," she responded. "You were excellent!" She told him in dialect and dropped down to give him a big hug.

Brome came over and spoke rapidly to Fanik who interpreted for Connie, "Tessa's labour started shortly before they left for Brodurne. The midwives said it would still be a while. Tessa insisted Brome take Quill to his performance."

They rode back together on the monorail. Fanik and Brome conversed for the duration of the ride to Ladore, rather heatedly at times, but they spoke too rapidly for Connie to make out what they were saying. As it seemed to be making Quill anxious, Connie tried to distract him by getting him to sing songs and further amused him by attempting to sing along. When they reached the Ladore station, Brome and Quill ran to the bike depot to grab transport back to Joyund Farm.

Brome called back to Connie in dialect. "Come tomorrow. See baby."

Fanik translated for her though she understood what Brome said. They walked toward the center of town where the bikes were stored.

Connie wished she could have gone with Brome and Quill to help out. She longed to be a normal part of the Crustic domain and dreaded sitting around Octo, especially with Fanik. "Can we walk around a little while? I'd like to see more of the town."

"Nothing to see. Everyone is at the convening grounds tonight."

"Or delivering a baby."

He shrugged. The large, semi-circular building came into view. "See, dark. No one here." A few lights shown on the upper stories of one wing. "Only the creelim." He held up his hand like a stop sign. "Don't ask. I'll tell you. Then we're done with questions. Creelim is Dahria healing place. Like your hospitals but better. For one, we're much more advanced than Earthside using what you call immunotherapy. We have little cancer compared to you and most of it gets fixed in the creelims." He strode to the bike shed.

Connie gaped, "Wait! You cure cancer?"

"No more questions," he kept his back to her and pulled a 2-2 out of the bike shed. Grumpily holding the 2-2 for Connie, she climbed on, and they peddled in tandem back to Octo.

Harnell left pictographs on the board that she had gone to Tessa's. Connie changed out of Harnell's elaborately embroidered clothes. Uncertain about what to do with them, she hung them in her room and planned to personally return them to Harnell the next time she saw her.

Out in the center room, Fanik sat at the large dining table near the kitchen area and spread out an elaborate set of drawings that nearly covered the surface. His body language clearly dismissed any further conversation.

Several evenings earlier, Connie asked Harnell for some paper and a graphite pencil. She would have loved to pour out her worries into a journal. But that seemed too risky with no secure place to hide it and the possibility that someone like Gristig could read travel English writing.

Instead, taking inspiration from Harnell's description of Dahrian 'runnings', Connie began writing up point form summaries of familiar fairy tales and fables and imbedding her own variations into the stories as she went along. She imaged using her 'runnings' to entertain Quill while marking time for when she and Peter could finally continue their journey.