Among the unaffiliated, Avicenna stands out as an Afghan who is silk calm and long memoried, elegant even in market dust. Anyone within earshot of Avicenna eventually hears the theory that the Endless Track loops because somewhere it cheats. When Avicenna sits down anywhere near the fountain steps in The Yard, conversation reorganises itself politely around them. Avicenna suspects the old world left at least one good question lying around with that exact name written on it.