"We'll take him back to Geryn's place and see if we can get him some food. He can probably stay there a little while if Geryn takes a liking to him."
"You can't just take every homeless barnacle you find back to Geryn's. You'll have it crawling with every shrimp in the Pot. And suppose he doesn't take a liking to him. Suppose he decides to kick us out in the street." The birthmark on her left cheek darkened.
"Aunt Rara, please," said Alter. "I'll handle Geryn."
Rara huffed once more. "How come when we're two weeks behind on the rent, you can't find a kind word in your mouth for the old man when he threatens to throw us onto the street? Yet for the sake of a handful of pretty shells ..."
"Please ..."
A breeze seeped through the narrow street, picked a shock of Alter's white hair and flung it back from her shoulder.
"Anyway, Geryn may be able to use him. If Tel stowed away, that means he doesn't have any papers."
Tel frowned with puzzlement.
Rara frowned with chastisement in her eyes. "You are not supposed to refer to that, ever."
"Don't be silly," said Alter. "It's just a fantasy of Geryn's anyway. It'll never happen. And without papers, Tel can't get a job at the aquariums, even if they wanted him. So if Geryn thinks he can fit him into his crazy plan, Tel will come out a lot better than if he had some old ten-unit-a-week factory job. Look, Rara, how can Geryn possibly kidnap ..."