Festival nods, listening. "I'd always left it to the last minute," he confesses. "It worked out the first time, but less so the second. It's...easy to lose sight of practicalities if one is too focused on his objections to the system itself. You're smart to start earlier. Smarter than me."

He makes a little face even as he nods again at her description. "That's...probably a good way to think about it," he says, "Though I'm not looking for a servant."