text: "You've been very distant lately," Ythac wrote to me this morning.
  
  "It's been a long day," I wrote back apologetically. "Certain countries do not quite understand what" no fighting other hovens who are under our protection "means." Which is true, but not very true. It never takes long to write to Ythac.
  
  "More than just today," he wrote.
  
  "Well, I've been busy more than just today. Nrararn and I are building one house in Katayay, and another one in Vlechinse, in the headlands of the Zom," I wrote back. "And collecting the last of Damma's reparations, finally, a few years late."
  
  "A few years is about how long, actually," he wrote. "More or less since you, shall we say, helped cut my territory down to a manageable size."
  
  "I was worried that you'd be upset about that."
  
  "Losing an empire is one thing. Losing a friend is another. Friends are harder to replace."
  
  We discussed my negligence for some while longer. So, Nrararn and I are going to Perstra to visit Ythac and Llredh in person, and staying for a month.
  
  Not for a few weeks, though. Not because I'm trying to put it off. Because I'm going to need that long to make some very very impressive tribute.