'I try not to make the same error twice,' says Tayrey, and her voice is soft but there's an edge of solid determination to it. 'You can speak to me about whatever you want, always, and I'll hear you. So far as I know we're the only two who made it out, and that means something to me.' The only two from their group, however fractured it might have been by the end. A bond forged by terrible adversity.

'I won't lie and say I don't worry about those people, but I can't live under protection. It's no life for me and it wouldn't be fair to you. If they come for me, I'll tell them I don't want to talk, and walk away. If they don't let me go-' Tayrey frowns. 'This is a place of code and order, Fever. At least I take comfort in the fact that the locals won't look at the victim of a brutal assault and blame her, ask what she was thinking by angering someone stronger than her. I'll do my best to stay clear, but I can't control everything, yes? There will always be risk. I have to live with that.'

And she'll stay especially clear of anyone who turns into an animal, because she's been told she was foolish to think that a veneer of civilised courtesy counted for more than the underlying attitudes of a wild creature - and Arilanna Tayrey doesn't make the same error twice.