Book 1, Tea in the Sahara: Chapters 16-17 Summary

In Chapter 16, Kit feels guilty about Port's casting off Tunner, not because he is gone but because she worries they will not catch up with him as promised. She spends most of the day in bed reading, while Port wanders the streets of Ain Krorfa. He returns to tell her that they will be having evening tea with a local shopkeeper, M. Chaoui.

When they arrive at his house that evening, he greets them with elaborate praise for New York and denigration of his hometown. They sit down to tea, and a musician with a lute plays for them. Kit interrupts the conversation to compliment the music, and Chaoui is shocked by her brazenness. Port and Kit excuse themselves for the night, and on the way home he tells her he...