“I know.” Could she think I don’t know that? After what happened, after Pallor—? Annie looks up, surprised. “That’s why we . . . We wanted you, we want you, to do that work.” She hears his name in it, and rubs her eyes with a sudden, jerking gesture. Aela veers from her coasting position and reattaches to the cliff face with a soft crunch. Her tail coils round us, nestlike, as she settles to the ground, and Annie’s hand unconsciously finds her crest and squeezes. Her chin is rippling almost too hard for speech, but she gets it out. “I figured I could still visit. Holidays, like this. If
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