Tayrey chuckles. 'In that case, I'm certain your mother writes the most excellent poetry in Crabapple Cove and probably ought to win awards,' she says merrily, as much because it's something to say while she tries to figure out what to tell him about Cardalek as anything else.

'Where I'm from... It's a place called Cardalek. That's the name of the colony world, of the Company - the megacorporation that owns it - and of the central Tower I grew up in. Cardalek Tower, floor 284. I grew up in the sky! I was adopted as a baby. That's a complicated story, but my father was so good to me. I never went without anything, and he valued me so much. I didn't even appreciate it until later, when I met people who had rough childhoods, who never had what I had.'

She sighs. 'Why I left... it was impulsive. I had this friend who convinced me that an... internal politics situation was going to go against my family, and that I'd lose my citizenship rights. So I decided to leave. I ran off and joined the military, thinking it'd be a great adventure, and...' Tayrey shakes her head. 'I love my career. I love flying. I don't regret that. But I regret the way I went about it. The hurt that I must have caused. It was thoughtless. Stupid.' She'd been all of thirteen, hadn't known any better.