The Captain waxed eloquent for the next while, hands busy with sign while speaking  the words. Theo recognized some of the texts – which is to say they were among the more complex manuals passengers were to memorize, and which, if Theo's experience with Hafley and the gravity zones meant anything, most did not.
    Other things Cho hand-said were much more complicated than that, and some Cho admitted were easily “sayable” by hand in multiple fashions – this of course being much like real words – and Cho made an effort to show those multiple ways...
    This is a story you tell... but I don't know it!
     This was not a complaint, but an observation as Theo tried to repeat the words as they came to her, but was swept up in the story, even delivered in the language of the hands...
    Cho broke off the hand motions and took a sip of her tea, with a small laugh.
    “Ah, Theo, my apologies.  I have been so carried away by your comprehension of the hands that I forget and I tell you a story most of my students know! This story is a retelling of a famous Liaden folk tale of delm who keeps two favorites, to each denying the existence of the other.  A favorite base it is for melant'i plays, with several different schools of playwrights each calling their line of plays the 'true line' and thus leading to, more in the past than now, multiple mortal combats, which is to say one-to-duels with gun, knife, sword, even with canes and rocks and wine bottles!”
    Theo laughed, hiding it briefly behind a raised hand.
    “I'm sorry,” she said “but a wine bottle battle – do they pound each other about the head and shoulders?  When you said 'schools' I had a vision of the scholars in regalia bashing the other each other in a school room!”    
    Cho nodded, a trace of a smile allowed to cross her lips.
    “Indeed, scholars in history have been known to do such things; but when I say schools I was speaking of schools of art. Art, of course, like philosophy, is harder to discuss with hand-talk than with full-jargon, but difficulty can be overcome... many things can be discussed beyond simple ship operations. It will be good for you to practice with more than one, though keeping practice on Melchiza may be difficult.”
    Theo, caught with biscuit to lips had no chance to reply.
    “I shall return, if you'll excuse me,” Cho said suddenly, rising and taking Theo's concurrence as a given, hurrying toward the nearby restroom. Theo tuned and began to scan...
    “Sweet mystery...”
    Theo nearly fell out of her seat when Win Ton's voice came from that side of the cafe.  That was crew side. Of course!
    She turned, felt her own smile and was pleased mightily to see his.
    “Theo, I'm so very glad to see you. I have been hoping to match schedules, but since I just oversaw the docking of the ship carrying the Melchiza pilot I have a break....”
    “Officer In Charge?” Theo asked.
    He nodded, and asked “May I join you...? Is there tea?”
    Theo blushed, let her hands talk ...
    Grab seat many choices, tea fronts Captain's chair
    Multiple thanks he managed finally spotting a likely candidate at a nearby table and hauling it over with a flourish. While he did, Theo waved toward the serving staff, holding up Cho's cup and showing two fingers.
    Goes well lessons query he offered. Mine good.  Theo watched his face as well as his hands as Win Ton signed, seeing him offer emphasis as well as concentration.  
    Binjalishe returned, and his countenance gave way to a grin and a laugh.
    “Binjali?” he said that out loud, with startlement. “Excellent! But you've been among pilots then!”
    Theo looked at the ceiling in mock exasperation.
    “Win Ton, Captain Cho's a pilot, right?”
    He bowed lightly while motioning true point.
    “She is that, a pilot. She also is very careful of her language at all times.  I think the Captain approves of you, to share binjali.”
    Theo sat back in the chair thoughtfully and was saved from saying anything by the wordless arrival of another glass of her soft drink and two teas. The odds and ends of used plates were dragged away, and when the server left there was another plate of biscuits and cheese as well.
    Win Ton sipped delicately at his tea, judiciously eyeing the cheese plate before making a graceful swoop with his right hand and nodding his thanks to Theo.
    “Captain Cho,” Theo said, “is providing...”
    “But yes, she is, but she would not be if she did not approve of you.  If she did not approve of you I would not be permitted to sit with you, you know.”
    Theo scanned his face, looking for signs of a joke.
    “Is that true?”
    He nodded, a free hand signaling true true true before going back for the cup of tea.
    “The Captain is careful, as I have said. And as for me, I am taught to be careful.  It would please me, for example, if you would not mention or bring to public topic the small insect which I located near your stateroom.”
    “What?” Theo raised an open palm reaction. “I haven't mentioned it to anyone!”
    He raised a hand to lips.
    “Theo, I did not say that you had. But it was mistake, you see to have brought the thing to your attention.”
    “Why... it was outside our stateroom!”
    His hands motioned agreement.
    “And, as Captain Cho mentioned to me, that since it was outside your stateroom I should not have carried it within. Indeed, she made quite a point that I may have been the vector of transmission.  Recognizing it, i should have captured it and retreated...”
    “But you'd come to talk to Kamele.”
    “Yes, I did. And I did that at my Captain's suggestion. Still, what I will say of it, and what you might share with Kamele if the topic does arise, is that the device in question is what we call an 'off-the-shelf' system.  It might belong to ship's security, it might belong to a corporation or a guild, and it could even be a thing someone might buy for themselves, if they felt a need for security or surveillance or espionage.  Perhaps the person in the stateroom next door was using it as an external sensor. Perhaps....”
    Theo looked at him mildly, trying to decipher the current hand-motion which might read as forgive me or forgive necessary but which was definitely not I'm sorry.
    “So that means you and Cho couldn't figure out who it belonged to?”
    “Ah,” he said and she snickered before he could go on.
    Query? Came the hand sign quickly.
    “Ah,” she said neutrally, “ is a form of non-communication taught Liadens upon receipt of their name.”
    “Oh, is it?” Win Ton managed a smile. “I've forgotten learning it, so it may well have come with my name.”
    Theo shrugged and leaned forward conspiratorially.
    “Jen Sar uses it, too. Ah!  It means either I have a point to make, or I have a point to make but I'm not going to. Very useful!”
    His hands said true true true true before he reached for another cheese portion.
    “In any case, the topic is one I am no longer permitted.  There are two topics I must press for ...”
    His hands motioned with your permission only but part of that was a guess because he still held the cheese.
    Theo signed continue, then interrupted herself..
    “I'm surprised Cho has been gone quite this long...”
    “Yes,” he agreed, “but she must be, else she would be party to the conversation which is not hers and which is ... of a nature perhaps not entirely covered by the Code.”
    “She's hiding while we talk? Isn't that silly?”
    He bowed, very lightly.
    “Silly is such a difficult Terran word to translate,” he said gently. “Let us say, rather, that it is both polite of her and a mark of esteem for us both.”
    “Ah,” Theo said lightly. “I see.”
    Very good his hands said while Win Ton regained his composure.
    “First then, I will repeat myself and say I have been pleased to make your acquaintance, and to have been permitted to spend time with you.  And while it is... statistically and  logistically unlikely we shall meet again, I...”
    Theo felt herself go bland, nearly blank. 
    “Theo?”
    She was quiet a moment, but the blank feeling went away to be filled with fast thoughts, with a dreadful understanding that he could be right.
    For some reasons her eyes were wet.
    “That's hard..” she managed.  On the other side of her misty eyes she saw Win Ton pause and his hands fluttered with true true true while he watched her.
    “Ah,” he said,  with a touch of a smile, and after a moment he gathered himself and went on.
    “As I was saying, this accident of our meeting is a fine accident.  The odds of it happening again -- as an accident -- are not good; perhaps this is the lesson about piloting  Captain Cho most needed me to learn on this trip.  But, with the needs of the Scouts and the needs of my clan being only slightly less aligned than the needs of Delgado with the needs of my clan, and none of those necessarily aligned at all with the needs of Kamele Waitley, we dare not depend on accident if we wish at some time to be in the same place at the same time, or even if we wish to be sure we are not in the same place at the same time.”
    He seemed to search for Terran words for a moment, then found his word and rushed on.
    “The problem is location and address, you see. I won no property of my own, and since my clan will be basically disinterested in me until it is time for me to marry and as they are generally unaware of my location at any particular time, they maintain no address for me. And given that the Scouts are of the opinion that only clan and debts have call on me and they maintain resources for very little direct communication while I am in the field, they do not have a public contact address for one still in training as I am, that means the only address I have which may be permanent for someone in your condition is one that ...”
    “My condition?” Theo hadn't realized she was going to speak; it seemed as if Win Ton was clearly babbling.
    “Yes,” he said, quickly recovering from the break in thought. “Yes, your condition. The condition of a student on the verge of becoming her own person but still tied by necessity to a world she is not a good fit for.”
    He nearly glared at her with the challenge of his statement, and his hands motioned permission to continue?
    Theo blushed deep to the tip pf her ears and muttered a quick “Sorry...” as well as an emphatic hand-talk continue now.
    Win Ton bowed rather and sipped of tea before going on.
     “Given that condition I will share with you my Pilots Guild address, which is an address good for next seven standards and likely the seven standards after that and the seven after that.  It is the only address I might consider permanent, for even if the Scout's cast me aside as unworthy I cannot imagine being other than pilot.”
    With that he handed her a card, only somewhat like the one Cho had given her. This was a light gray and not so fine, and it had his name in trade beneath what she assumed was in his name in Liaden; there were also numbers and letters but they were hard to read...
    She sniffed through her tears, looked into his face and said “I so wanted to see you before I left and now I'm a wreck because you're here!”
    He sighed and said “I have training as a Liaden, which is fearful training indeed,  assure you, else I might be doing the same.  You see, this is why Cho is presently standing where she think I cannot see her, waiting patiently for me to leave!”
    Theo sniffed hard, and wiper her eyes, laughing though.
    “When you are someplace,” Win Ton said “where you feel the reply address is good for some time, and if you feel that you would like me to know about your doings, or wish to know about mine, use this address.”
    He paused for a sip of tea    but continued before Theo had a chance to avow her intentions...
     “It might be you are away to college, it might be that you have partnered or wed, it might be that you have determined to be dance champion!  Whichever, feel free to contact me.  If it becomes clear that we are as pilots say, ships passing in the night, then you need not do ought but destroy the card.  Do you understand these conditions? Will you abide them?”
    She nodded, found her hands answer Is fine check is clear check will comply check and she was able to smile without having to wipe tears from the corner of her mouth.
    There was a sudden buzz then, and Win Ton pulled a shipcomm form his pocket and glanced at the screen with a kind of fascination before rising....
    “Theo, I must run! A gift for you, my friend, use it wisely! And take my advice, never buy a bowli ball on a cruise ship!”
    He handed over a package as he moved past, his hand lingering on hers for moment, and then he was gone.
   
    Cho had long since settled in the chair, and her tea had been renewed by the sharp-eyed wait-staff. Now Theo mumbled half to herself and half to Cho, sometimes using hand-talk and sometimes voice.
    “The package clearly states,” Theo said bravely, “that this is for sale to pilots only!”
    “Ah,” said Cho, and then waved a fluid hand toward the open box. “Then conditions are met, are they not? You are not the one who bought this.  I must admit that his advice is good – he must have found it in Crew's Store.  But then, necessity.”
    “So I won't be in trouble for having this?”
    Cho sighed slightly.
    “In my opinion, there is no problem with you having this. You may quote me if need be. You may find the official rules ...”
    Theo nearly cackled as she read “The stochastic reverberation tuned-molecule core makes long range accuracy problematical.  Never throw, kick, or launch your stochastic  reflection device in the direction of a person or fragile object...”
    She looked up in amaze.
    “Never throw at a person?  But....”
    “Pilots, you'll likely come to see, have their own little jokes...”   
    “Never use this equipment in a closed environment. Avoid handling with damp hands or in uncertain footing...”
    Theo was making hand motion the while: never never never careful danger pilot use only not a toy not for competition avoid deep knife cuts...
    Theo glanced up, ball still firmly in pocket.
    Cho was watching her serenely, a gentle tapping on her wrist the only motion...
    Gah! The symbol for time!
    Theo gathered the package together, carefully folding the absurd instructions into the box.
    “Thank you Captain Cho,” she managed, and then decided that this moment did not deserve tears. She laughed then and hand-talked Thank you again, and then added everything is binjali before heading toward her stateroom, with some haste.