“We don’t say that sort of thing here, though you could not have known,” Susan says, though her barbed smile and glacial tone say quite well that she believes otherwise, and the Telmar Ambassador should have done his homework before daring to set foot (and presumptuous mouth) in a land populated by, among others, the very Rats he’d just inadvertently insulted.

“Rats don’t marry as humans do, and raise their children communally in any case, so such a thing does not exist,” Nielle informs him from her perch on Susan’s right shoulder, one small paw stroking her whiskers as she ponders the expression.

“Unless, of course, you meant ‘bastard’ in the sense of ‘a rude, unpleasant personage with little dignity and less honor,’” Jacques says from her left shoulder, his slender body quivering with suppressed rage, “in which case, I believe it is quite clear to whom at this table the phrase may apply, sir.”