diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index ebad22a..cb76ac0 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@ use std::{
     collections::HashMap,
     error::Error,
     io::{self, Read, Write},
+    process,
 };
 
 use bstr::ByteSlice;
 use clap::Parser;
-use itertools::Itertools;
 use rand::seq::IndexedRandom;
 
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ struct Args {
     first_word: String,
     #[arg(short, long)]
     count: usize,
-    // TODO: higher-order chains
+    #[arg(short = 'n', long, default_value_t = 2, value_parser = clap::value_parser!(u8).range(2..=5))]
+    order: u8,
+    // DONE: higher-order chains
     // TODO: save chains
 }
 // long-term TODO: live up to name :P
@@ -24,6 +26,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
     let Args {
         first_word,
         mut count,
+        order,
     } = Args::parse();
 
     // printing the first word immediately gives an intuitive idea of how long freq construction takes
@@ -35,26 +38,44 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn Error>> {
     io::stdin().read_to_end(&mut buf)?;
     let buf = buf.to_lowercase();
 
-    let mut freq: HashMap<&str, HashMap<&str, usize>> = HashMap::new();
-    for (word, next) in buf.words().tuple_windows() {
-        *freq.entry(word).or_default().entry(next).or_default() += 1;
+    // it's probably fine to make a big ol vec of the words…
+    let words: Vec<_> = buf.words().collect();
+
+    let mut freq: HashMap<&[&str], HashMap<&[&str], usize>> = HashMap::new();
+
+    for window in words.windows(order as usize) {
+        let [words @ .., _] = window else {
+            unreachable!()
+        };
+        *freq
+            .entry(words)
+            .or_default()
+            .entry(&window[1..])
+            .or_default() += 1;
     }
 
     let mut rng = rand::rng();
-    let mut current_word = first_word.as_str();
-    while let Some(nexts) = freq.get(current_word) {
+    let Some(mut context) = freq.keys().find(|k| k[0] == first_word) else {
+        eprintln!("well *I* didn't find {first_word} in the corpus");
+        process::exit(1);
+    };
+    while let Some(nexts) = freq.get(context) {
         if count == 0 {
             break;
         }
 
-        current_word = nexts
+        let new_context @ [next, ..] = nexts
             .iter()
             .collect::<Vec<_>>()
             .choose_weighted(&mut rng, |(_, count)| **count)
             .expect("freq maps must be nonempty")
-            .0;
+            .0
+        else {
+            unreachable!();
+        };
+        context = new_context;
 
-        print!("{current_word}");
+        print!("{next}");
         if count > 1 {
             print!(" ");
         }