"Master Shudder lacks many of my advantages," China informs Arno. There is a time for subtlety, and there is a time for impressing upon someone she more or less likes that there are things he really shouldn't try. "And I have studied longer than he."

She doesn't have anything lethal in the mix, at least.

"Caution is rarely inadvisable," she agrees, still lightly teasing, and subsides.