Sigrun wants a backpack and a jacket. Tyr really wants the spine pack until it occurs to him that having a ton of metal in a bag along his spine might not be the best idea. He settles on another backpack.

The storeowner tries to convince them to get little glass screens as well. 

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Melody says, "they are planning to go back to Scandanavia and they won't be able to charge them there yet."

           "Ah, but there'll be charging stations soon enough. These are the best thing to have," he tells them earnestly, "they play music and show bus schedules and tell you how to get anywhere in the universe you want to go, and they let you know about available tasks you can do for money in your area."

"He's entirely right," Melody says, "but they won't be useful yet except when you're here, and that's a lot of money to spend for something that won't work in Scandinavia."

"How much are they?" asks Sigrun.

"A hundred fifty for the old model and two hundred fifty for the new."

She turns to her brother.

"It's a bribe," says Tyr, flatly.

"It's not a bribe if you pay for it."

"That's why they make you pay for it, so you'll think it isn't a bribe."

"It hardly prevents you from leaving." She turns back to the store owner. "One old model, please, we'll share."

He gives them an old model and a charging cord, shows them how to attach the charging cord to an outlet - "there'll be lots of them in your house" - and shows them how to turn it on. "Do either of you read?"

"We read Norwegian and Arabic."

“10th century,” says Melody.

“We have that! Thanks to Revelation... okay, I’ve got it set up with Arabic because I expect the translation will be better, but you can switch to Norwegian here. It has a few features installed by default, and you can add more. The most important one is map mode - it’s your guide to getting anywhere in the universe. It also shows if there are tasks for money listed anywhere near you.” (There are; the tasks, and the payment amounts, float above the map). 

Ooooh, what tasks?

Someone would pay 3 coins plus expenses for someone to bring them a sandwich from the corner store; someone would pay five for help assembling a bookshelf; someone will pay ten for someone to come playtest their new game; someone will pay 8/hour for someone to practice French with them; someone is offering thirty for anyone who will go to Edda and get them a scone from their favorite food cart.

Shame nobody wants to learn tenth century Norwegian and Arabic. Tyr hands the screen off to Sigrun and tells her to keep checking whether anything interesting comes up, and then they are ready to leave the store.

“Dinner is probably going to be ready by now,” Melody says. “I’m going to head back. If you two would like to explore some more, I can drop a pin on the map for our house and then you can get instructions to return there later.”

"We'll go home now," says Sigrun.

Melody’s friend Zuzu and Melody’s husband are setting up dinner when they get back. The dishes are all unfamiliar but smell good. 

Melody goes upstairs looking for Catherine.

Catherine is doing a wonderful impression of a functional human being, sitting on one of the beds and listening to Frey provide a very detailed list of the house's virtues and shortcomings. The laundry chute and the attic with a very short ceiling are virtues. The lack of a place to hunt frogs is a shortcoming.

“Hello, you two! My friend Zuzu brought us dinner. It’s hamburgers and chicken nuggets and tater tots and milkshakes from the place down the street, if you happen to like any of them you can get them all the time.”

Frey knows what chicken and ham are, and this is sufficient to get him to run to the kitchen. Catherine scoops up Ingolfr from the corner, where he's investigating a toy car. "Thank you. You're very generous."

“Loving your neighbor is both the easiest commandment and the hardest, you know. Easy because every person God has put in my path has been such a gift to me, and taught me more than I could possibly teach them. I am glad you’re here, Catherine, and you’re here for a reason.

It’s the hardest commandment because worlds have neighbors, usually hundreds of them, so every one we discover is a hundred more.”

She nods. She feels like she should maybe have something profound to say, but she doesn't actually have anything on hand, so she heads downstairs to eat dinner with her children.

Dinner is the promised selection of foods. Melody's friend leaves; Melody and her husband stay, talking quietly in the corner. Apparently the popular grace before meals around here is 'God, you have blessed us with abundance; bless us with enjoyment, and with the strength to share our abundance with everyone'. 

She hasn't gotten to eat dinner with all her children present and no one else particularly worrying in - ah. Far too long. It would be easier to enjoy it if she knew them better, though.

"Did you have fun with Melody?"

"We bought one of the magic screens," says Sigrun, neutrally. "It has maps and tells you how to earn money."

"We don't need money," puts in Tyr. "Father has plenty, and if he doesn't have any foreign money yet, then he will soon."

"I like money," says Frey.

"You're too small to do anything useful," objects Tyr.

"Am not!"

"Are too."

Sigrun cuts her hamburger into little pieces and daintily eats them. "I'll tell you if I see anything a little kid could do."

"It also plays music and movies," Melody says. "I can show you how to set it up after dinner, if you'd like."

        "And Angry Birds," says her husband.

"Aren't all the kids over that by now?"

        "A new one came out, it's called Angry Birds: War. Half the kids at church were playing it and the other half were piously refraining."

"- all right, music and movies and little games."

"Does it do anything else useful?" asks Tyr.

"Music is useful," says Sigrun.

"No it's not."

"Father likes it."

"Not everything Father likes is useful."

"I'm not really sure what kinds of things you consider useful."

" - you know," says Sigrun, looking slightly puzzled. "Things that make you a better and more capable person."

"Music doesn't make you more capable," mumbles Tyr.

"Yes it does, it makes you better at music."