[ Alayne exhales softly. Not a laugh, not even an approximation of one, but an expression nevertheless — more of that resignation seeping through. She'd been aboard the Tranquility and survived that, but only because she had banners and her brothers hoarded around her (a right pack of wolves). Here, with only Marius by her side, Marius who was as frightened as she was, it's difficult to feel steel in her spine. (She isn't ivory or porcelain; she's spun glass.) ]

There is no place to hide here. The dead live in the walls. They own the dark.

[ There's a pause and then Alayne asks: ] Does death frighten you?

[ She'd known it once already, during her time amongst the stars. The wound in her belly had bled and bled and she'd slipped into a nothingness that held her and refused to let her go. ]