"A kicked puppy," Raine repeated, dry, incredulous. But she couldn't deny there had been something of that air about Erskine when she brushed him off, as inappropriate as the metaphor seemed for a man past four hundred in age. "I... perhaps. If nothing else, it would be a fair exchange."

She shook her head. "It will continue to, yes, so long as I work in the Water sector and live in Keeliai, on Tu Vishan. As I don't plan on changing either of those in the near future..."

Solomon's logic and her own better sense had her backed into a corner. "You're being terribly sensible," she told him, fondly resigned. It had something of the sound of thanks.