Return, with what consequences, and in what state?
Would Melissa be right about Nations of Earth panic? Would faith in the Exchange be shaken? Would the Aghyrian section see this as an opportunity to push their alternative Exchange again?
Moreover, there was that all-pervasive Coldi custom they called nethana. The word translated as “without meaning”. After settling on an agreement or completion of negotiations, Coldi upper-class people often went for a private dinner followed by a s*x romp for fun, which was what nethana related to.
Ezhya loved his nethana. He would try it on her. Damn.
In my explanations to Margarethe about Coldi culture I hadn’t covered the subject of nethana yet. That it was a sign of appreciation and respect, that it didn’t mean anything, that it certainly wasn’t
