10/03/2026 18:11

---

With no salutation and no signature, her response took only a breath to write:I may not see you. They know better, course they do—there’s no more a custom here against outlanders on Reaping than there is anyplace else. “There were useful things in there when my da was a child,” she said. Sheemie looked up at him, gaping and puzzled.

Eldred Jonas, with whom Cordelia seemed quite taken. Murmurs greeted this. His note was written in a hand which was clear and passing fair. To Sheemie that bray sounded very like laughter.