The initial sensation is startling, but it's really nothing to worry about, not for someone like Ari who has been through L-space training. And then - she is inside the tree. She is most definitely inside the tree, and she shouldn't be able to fit, but she does, comfortably, and she still feels very much herself. She can feel her body, whole and unchanged.

Tayrey has no fear of this. She remembers Sparkles, how the little shadow creature used to hide away in its shadow realm, and decides this must be something similar. A sidestep into other dimensions, like a ship's transition into L-space, only without all the effort and expense and altered perception. This shadow dimension is not alien the way that L-space is, but the mathematics of it might be similar, at root.

She squeezes Elsie's hand in return. 'I like it,' she says. 'You feel safe in here, yes?' Tayrey would feel safe, if this were hers, and she begins to realise what it means that Elsie is sharing it with her. That trust.