There are all sorts of things to do at the Terraced Lake. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise, because they’d be lying, or they just didn’t know any better, and either of those are good reasons not to take their word for it. Do you know how many people live there? It’s nowhere near as many as in the cities, but it’s lots. Plenty enough. No need to put a number to it. And anyway, every one of those people? They do at [i]least[/i] one thing a day. Oftentimes more! Now there is the possibility that some people are doing the same thing, but there can’t be that many of them. 

Dolce - sometimes known as Dolcef - does some of these things, for a little bit. He watches the sunrise. He cooks. He strolls. He swims. He dries off in the afternoon sun. This and that, for a little bit. 

And then he leaves.

Politely, mind you! He gives every gratitude to Yue. He promises he’ll be back. He hopes she doesn’t think herself a poor hostess. (He suspects she might anyway.) But he doesn’t say [i]why.[/i] Not really. 

He’s going to see the civil service.

He will not, cannot, do a thing until he does.

And if anyone wishes to travel with him?

Well! He won’t refuse the company.