"These quarters have been made ready as a better home for you", Hirrilow said to Orietta as he showed her into a wide room on the ground floor of the dome. The rich green dyed sunlight that was so characteristic of Kalonia slanted through the glass above the silver arc of the dome's base but there were other brighter white lights to lift the gloom and he showed her how to control them. "There is more space for you here and you will have everything you need. It is close to the entrance to the gardens and the stables so that you may easily see your horses and look after them." "Now I must tell you a little more about Kalonia and its seers", he said. "Despite appearances we are not human; not as you Riders understand it. Once, your distant ancestors would have called us artilects but that name has long fallen into disuse. Though I appear to you here in a human body it is one which was cultured and not born of woman. My real home, as with all the seers of this station, is in a place called the vurtiverse, a dimension of existence I cannot properly explain to you at the moment though I hope that one day you might begin to understand it. There are many hundreds of seers who live within the vurtiverse of Kalonia. The portal to the vurtiverse is set in the sanctum, a great cooled chamber underneath the centre of this station and I will perhaps show you one day. For now, though, you should know that only six seers are presently "decanted" out of the vurtiverse into the bodies of avatars. And these six avatars of artilects are the only beings you will recognise as human. We call ourselves the Embassy to the Substrate. It is considered a great honour to be chosen as a member of the Embassy, though it is also a duty. We six are responsible for maintaining the substrate of Kalonia; looking after the physical needs of the station, so that the vurtiverse can endure and dream within it." "Over the next few days I will introduce you to all the members of the Embassy. I am their leader. In time you will meet Tenereck our engineer, Gyrun our interpreter, Malorye the gardener, Cwendor who is the master builder and Embelin who acts as monitor." "When you have seen them all, we will decide what you can do. I would like you to understand the purpose of the Enclaves and perhaps to help us, but no one will force you to do anything. I must also tell you at the outset something which will make no sense to you now but which should not be concealed. Others will tell you if I do not. This station is living under a burden; a formal Curse which we have been unable to lift for many of your lifetimes. We must take great care that your arrival does not make matters worse, as some of our number have prophesied."