Xiulan has taken a seat off to Remi’s left side, looking toward him, able to move quickly if she needs to. So far, there has been no need and she watches instead, soaking in information and studying reactions.

And she thinks, of the conversation with Jedao and Hana, and of how differently people respond to trauma. Of how fragile a balance it is between one way off the mountain versus another. They are uncomfortably close thoughts, scrubbing over her mind like rough pumice on skin. But ghosts are not so easily sloughed off as that.

She isn’t surprised when Sasha bluntly announces the real point. Both what the others have said and Remi’s own conduct have illustrated his intelligence. The combination of the questions he has been asked thus far have almost certainly pointed him in this direction.

She continues watching, a floating awareness applied to his expression and body language, the set of his legs and hands.