"I'll tell you. In my country we amused ourselves by sucking the smoke of a weed called tobacco. It's a fairly harmless little vice if you don't overdo it. Ever since I arrived here I've been wishing for some tobacco, and the land across the Atlantic is the nearest place you can get any."
Unas laughed his big, booming laugh. "I've got to be off. I'd like to see the draft of your letter to Justinian before you send it."
"Okay, as we say in America. I'll have it for you tomorrow, and also the appointment of Thomasus the Syrian as minister of finance for you to sign. He arranged to get those skilled ironworkers from Damascus through his private business connections, so I shan't have to ask Justinian for them."
Urias asked: "Are you sure your friend Thomasus is honest?"
"Sure he's honest. You just have to watch him. Give my regards to Mathaswentha. How is she?"
"She's fine. She's calmed down a lot since all the people she most feared have died or gone mad. We're expecting a little Amaling, you know."
"I didn't know! Congratulations."
"Thanks. When are you going to find a girl, Martinus?"
Padway stretched and grinned. "Oh, just as soon as I catch up on my sleep."
Padway watched Urias go with a twinge of envy. He was at the age when bachelors get wistful about their friends' family life. Not that he wanted a repetition of his fiasco with Betty, or a stick of female dynamite like Mathaswentha. He hoped Urias would keep his queen pregnant practically from now on. It might keep her out of mischief.