"Um, Mistress Tae?"

 

"Yes, petal?"

 

"You said to let you know if that Mats floret responded to your book. You know, the one we all told you you got wrong?"

 

"I didn't get it wrong, flower, but I understand the confusion. The Terran Accord really had no grasp of literary subtlety."

 

"Yes, Mistress. Um, Mats wrote a review of your book."

 

"Stars, that's so precious! He really is a cutie, you know. Brilliant, but stars does he have odd ideas about literature. And his grammar is so... well, it's not bad so much as utterly adorable and..."

 

"Yes, Mistress. Erm. It was less of a review and more of an, um..."

 

"Yes?"

 

"A two hundred thousand eight hundred sixty-two word refutation. Not counting the appendices. And um... in six parallel dialects."

 

"Six? Oh, the sweetie! He really put a lot of effort into it, didn't he?"

 

"You're not mad?"

 

"Little one, when a precious pebble like Mats doesn't like you you either resent it and learn not to get bitten or you recognize just how cute he is and learn not to get bitten. If that Liliac sophont hadn't domesticated him I'd've tried, you know."

 

"I don't think he'd've agreed."

 

"Still, the review. You said it was over two hundred thousand words?"

 

"Yes, Mistress. Like I said, not counting the appendices."

 

"Well, let's take a look at what he had to say."