"She and I must not have been kind to the same kinds of people," he replies with a wry smile. "You're right. It's a risk. Either way you're taught a lesson. I don't think it can make you harder than you ought to be. Surely it only makes you as hard as you need to be."

A desert. He's never lived in a desert before. What must its Winters be like? The thought distracts him briefly as he wonders whether or not to ask Winter, before he falls back to reality as if he'd forgotten he was musing. Daydreaming is no good in a Season like his.

"A 'dark fairy tale'. That's a rather beautiful way of describing it." And it's true. He finds himself flattered for Winter. Pure but deadly are a wondrous combination. The wistfulness is replaced by a casual roll of his shoulder. "But it needn't be a privilege or a curse. It simply is. Like the Nexus. Like people."

His head slowly tilts to one side, weighed down by a curious thought. "Do you ever take snow from the Nexus into your world?"