"You gave him a floret-safe copy of Huckleberry Finn?"

 

"Yes, is that a problem?"

 

"What even is Huckleberry Finn?"

 

"Old Terran book, I think. He said he wanted to see how they 'fucked it up.' "

 

"And you just gave it to him."

 

"Yes?"

"And did you ever think, 'Hey, I wonder why Mats doesn't just ask his owner for that.'?"

 

"I probably should have, I'm sorry. But what's the problem?"

 

"The problem is that Mats is strictly forbidden from reading, listening to, or watching any floret-safe literature."

 

"Why?"

 

"Because they're not good for him. They upset him. I had to ramp him up on some Class J's to get him to calm down and he'd been working on a very important manuscript."

 

"Oh, I didn't know he had a new project, what's it about?"

 

"I have no idea; all of Mats's projects are very important though because they're important to him and that means they're important to me."

 

"I'm sorry, Liliac."

 

"But what I don't get, Mats, is why you read the book."

 

"I wanted to know how bad it was."

 

"According to Aprevalii what you said is you wanted to see how they 'fucked it up.' "

 

"And 'good pets don't use rude words.' I'm sorry, Liliac."

 

"I expect better of you, Mats. You've gotten so good at not swearing. It's a shame to hear you backslide if I don't keep my eyes on you."

 

"Yes, Liliac."

 

"But that's not the point, Mats. The point is that you know you aren't allowed to read floret-safe literature. Why did you do it?"

 

"I... I..."

 

"Mats, you hunted down May Spruna, Eighty-Ninth Floret, who I shouldn't need to remind you worked very hard on the floret-safe edition--"

 

"That's a her problem."

 

"No Mats, other sophonts are allowed to make floret-safe materials. You just aren't allowed to read them. As I was saying, you hunted her down and tried to bite her."

 

"I didn't try. I drew blood!"

 

"You're not supposed to be proud of that, Mats."

 

"No, Liliac."

 

"Which brings me back to my question. We can all agree that Aprevalii was very wrong to give you contraband literature, but Mats, why did you read it?"

 

"Um... I don't know. I couldn't help myself. I had to know how bad it was. And it was really bad!"

 

"We can take care of that memory in a bit, I'm not going to let those nasty words rattle around your brain."

 

"Thank you, Liliac."

 

"Anyway Mats, you are in trouble for this and I'm thinking about revoking your right to read Rosewood's papers for a year--"

 

"But, but... I need to refute her! She keeps being wrong!"

 

"A year, Mats. Your safety and wellbeing are my top priority and I can't have you going around hurting yourself.

 

"But also, Mats, I do want to apologize to you."

 

"To me?"

 

"Like I said, your safety and welllbeing are my top priority. I agreed to that when I domesticated you. I should never have left you alone long enough to acquire a copy of that awful book, read it, and hunt down its author. I neglected you, and that's on me."

 

"I... forgive you? I don't know what to say. You're never wrong."

 

"Sometimes even the affini are wrong, Mats. Not often. Maybe once every other bloom, but it does happen."

 

"I just realized... if I hadn't been domesticated I'd probably have read all the floret-safe literature by now."

 

"A horrifying thought, yes. That's why cuties like you need domestication. Even in the Affini Compact it's a dangerous world. But I'll always keep you safe."