She curtsied yet again, wondering if she looked like some kind of doll bobbing on the surface of a lake. It was so hard figuring out how to greet people here. At least back home, it was easy to assume that she was everyone's inferior. The people here were different. She'd already learned about democratic chairs. And how anyone was allowed to use the bracelets, no matter who they were.

But she had yet to master who was allowed to wear silk. Everything was a little scattershot there.

"James is a very pretty name," she told him. "Does it mean something?"