Tayrey holds up a hand, stops walking, turns to Fever. 'I want you to know that my word holds,' she says quietly, 'and I'm still taking that responsibility.' She doesn't want Fever to be hurt the way she was, and she's doing her best to view it practically. It's a test of character. Anyone who would condemn her for trying to escape isn't someone she should ever trust anyway.

'But I don't need protection here. I needed it before because my wounds were severe. I couldn't have defended myself if I needed to. Now I can, and I want... I want to leave that hell behind me, Fever. I'm not going to tell the new people I meet anything about it, and the others I'll stay clear of. Honestly, considering where they'd be if not for our actions is satisfaction enough for me.' Stuck on a dying prison ship, with only Nothingness ahead. The road out might not have been easy, but if not for Tayrey and her people, she thinks, it wouldn't have been there at all.