Sasha's cheeks burn, but she thinks, snow. It's like snowshoes: she has to let the weight of her attention settle evenly. And just as when snowshoeing, everything seems harder than it should.

"So. We have some transit time, before we reach our rendezvous with Ashari. Ione, you are likely to spend much of that time with Jedao and Reshad or me, but please be clear about your limits. This isn't a short-term process. We need as much information as we can get about this Nirai collaborator: how he thinks, what his resources are."

[Maybe the next person to respond should start a new comment thread?]