"I know," she says with a serene smile, looking down at Steve. He's good company so far, he can keep up. And she says I know instead of thank you because she's fairly sure that if she were unintelligent, Johann wouldn't have kept her. And things come easily to her, anyway.

"When did you go?" she asks, comfortable and not suspecting at all that they're talking about the same place. Everyone else has been very careful to remind her that they're from different worlds, and different times. "And what part?"