Book 2, Chapter 8 Summary

Indar takes Salim to a party in the Domain. He says the hostess, Yvette, is married to a man named Raymond. Raymond, a historian, keeps a low profile, but actually runs the whole show. He's called "the Big Man's white man." The President, it is believed, reads everything Raymond writes. Indar says Raymond knows more about their country than anyone on Earth.

Yvette is young, white, small and beautiful. Salim is surprised to see that she is barefoot. The house is like Indar's, but a lot of the furniture has been replaced with cushions and mats. Raymond is in the other room working. Couples are dancing. Salim looks at a woman's legs and feels a desire and freedom he has never felt at a brothel. He realizes he has never seen men and women dancing for mutual pleasure. He is moved...