This short story takes place during Two Different Things Can Just Be Different. You can read the first chapter of the novel here!
Asp sat, shoulders slumped, in her armchair in her apartment. Iris dozed lightly on the windowsill. Asp sighed, looked around, and sighed again.
“Shit.”
She had been in a funk for about a week, and it had affected her so deeply that she had chosen to avoid working until it lifted. It was hard for her to explain, but she knew that the feeling had appeared shortly after finishing her last job. She had cleaned a small business owner out of essentially all they were worth, leaving her mark without much of anything. After that, she had begun feeling creeping self-doubt, frustration, and listlessness. She glanced at Iris.
“Come here, baby,” she said softly, almost without feeling–except for a heaviness that weighed on her.
Iris didn’t stir.
Asp sighed again. “Fine,” she said. “Be that way.”
Iris snored slightly, her tail beginning to twitch. This would ordinarily have inspired a wide smile or perhaps a giggle from Asp, but she merely watched in a detached way.
“Maybe some rabbit . . .” she said. She pulled a strip of dried rabbit meat from the bag next to her and held it out.
Iris looked over, meowed, and went back to sleep.
Asp frowned. What’s wrong with me? Even her favorite snack won’t bring her to me. She inhaled deeply, then sighed. Aside from the obvious.
A knock on the door surprised Asp, drawing her scattered attention. She shrugged to Iris and rose, walking to the door. She pulled it open. Before her was Agnes.
“Mornin’,” said Agnes. “Good to see you’re still alive.”
Asp assumed a smile despite not feeling it. “Of course I am,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Agnes laughed, and it seemed a scornful laugh to Asp. “Normally, you come by and bug me every so often. But I haven’t seen you in two weeks. So maybe you were dead.”
What if I were? Asp thought. “It has been a while, hasn’t it?” she asked casually.
Agnes looked at her sternly. “So what’s your deal?”
Asp began to put on a playful expression but stopped. She let her face drop. “Just a rough patch, I guess.”
Agnes looked at her, confused. “That’s not like you,” she said. “The Asp I know doesn’t have rough patches.”
Asp stuck her hand out. “If you don’t know an Asp with rough patches, it’s nice to meet you.”
Agnes nodded. “Wow. How lame.”
Asp managed to not cringe. “Yep, that’s me.” She sighed yet again.
“At least you can admit it,” said Agnes, but her tone was more commanding than playful.
Could you leave? Asp thought. It’s already hard enough being around you and having to watch everything I say like I’m on the job. Do you have to make it worse? She looked squarely at Agnes. “So, I imagine you needed me for something if you came looking for me.”
Agnes chuckled. “You’re still sharp,” she said. “Yeah, I need to convince someone of something, but I need help from somebody. And I’ve tried talking to him. He wouldn’t listen. I need your skills.”
Of course you need something. What else am I good for? “Is it urgent?” she asked. “I could use another couple days to regroup.”
“Don’t be like that,” said Agnes. “Help your best friend. Come on.”
Best friend? That’s new. I didn’t think–wait. She said she’s my best friend, not the other way around. She looked at Agnes, who was standing casually at the door. Agnes smiled slightly, and Asp admired her almost elven features. “Fine,” she said after a moment.
“Good,” said Agnes. “You want the details?”
Asp blinked slowly. “Come in,” she said, standing aside.
Agnes grinned and stepped inside. “See? Isn’t that better?”
Asp faked a smile. “Much,” she lied.
—
Asp walked down the street. The information which Agnes had given her swirled through her head. Her mind kept trying different configurations of these ideas like someone assembling a puzzle by trial and error. It wasn’t adding up.
What’s wrong with me? she thought again. Normally, this stuff just comes naturally. But I can barely focus. She eyed the city around her. It was a very ordinary day–people coming and going, the city’s usual rhythm pulsing away. Despite the lack of difference, it felt unusual. It’s like everyone knows I’m a con, she thought. But they can’t. Can they?
She slowed her walk and stood at a corner. Across from her was a small building with a simple sign out front that read, “Fortune Teller,” a crescent moon hooked around the second R. She considered it briefly, then went to the door and stepped inside.
In the small building was a delicate old slightkin woman with a crystal ball before her, a wispy scarf tied around her head. Tapestries depicting constellations and mythic figures hung on the walls, just barely visible in the low candlelight that came from the tapered candles on the table before her. The woman looked up at Asp and offered a strange smile.
“Good morning, young one,” she said, her voice raspy and scratchy. She’s been a smoker for years, Asp thought. Or she’s had some serious damage to her throat.
“Good morning, madam,” said Asp slowly. “You tell fortunes?”
The fortune teller nodded. “I can help you,” she said simply.
“I take it you know why I’m here,” began Asp.
“Stop,” said the fortune teller. “Not yet.”
Asp furrowed her brow. “Not yet?”
The fortune teller smiled strangely again. “In time. First, though, we must become acquainted. You may call me Madame Sosay.”
Asp nodded uncertainly. “I’m Blossom,” she said.
“No, you are not,” said Madame Sosay.
Asp blinked a few times. “Excuse me?”
Madame Sosay looked back at her plainly. “You are not Blossom,” she said. “You tell people that often, but you are not.”
Asp’s shoulders slumped. “How do you know that?”
Madame Sosay smiled strangely once more. “It’s my job, child.”
“Fine,” said Asp, allowing frustration into her voice. “What’s my name, then?”
“I don’t know,” said Madame Sosay. “But you use a flower for your name. Perhaps you are a Violet, or a Lily.”
Asp flinched at the name Lily. “Um . . . okay.”
“I am right, am I not?” asked Madame Sosay.
I don’t like this. But then, the only consequence of not getting what I want here is having to tell Agnes that I couldn’t do it, and I already told her that. What’s the harm? Who’s going to believe a fortune teller anyway?
“You’re right,” said Asp.
“But you don’t want to say what it is,” continued Madame Sosay. “Because–” she paused and grabbed Asp’s hand, holding it palm-up and inspecting it closely. “Because you have more than one name, and there is power in knowing them.”
I really don’t like this now. Why did Agnes send me here of all places?
“You know a lot about me,” said Asp quietly. “So you must know why I’m here.”
Madame Sosay did not react except to say, “I can understand why people say that, but it’s a misunderstanding of what I do. I don’t know everything, flower child.” She looked away, examining the constellations on the tapestry beyond Asp. “I know things that matter a great deal, but not everything.”
That’s a relief. If she knew why I’m here, I’d have no chance.
“So what do we do next?” asked Asp.
Madame Sosay smiled as if Asp’s accepting her response was a great relief. It occurred to Asp that this woman probably had people pestering her about things every day. Good to know, she thought. If I’m just a bit deferential, this should go well.
“You tell me why you’re here,” said Madame Sosay simply.
“Okay,” said Asp, collecting herself. “I’m here because I’m just really uncertain about things right now,” she said honestly, though it felt like a lie. She braced herself for Madame Sosay to correct her again.
“A common problem,” said the older woman gently. “Would you say that you can feel the problem, but not find yourself able to express it?”
Asp sat up a bit straighter. “Yeah.”
Madame Sosay smiled sympathetically. “I am sorry.” She looked down at the crystal ball. “In that case, the best I can do is look into your future and let you know what to expect.”
Asp listened carefully, noticing how the fortune teller’s quietness commanded her attention. “It would be nice to know if things are going to get better. If they’re not, I’d like to know.”
Madame Sosay nodded. Her eyes had not left the crystal ball. She reached her hands across the table toward Asp. “Take my hands and look into the ball. If you see anything, stay silent. If you don’t see anything, that’s okay–it’s normal. Are you ready?”
Asp exhaled slowly. “Yes,” she said, taking Madame Sosay’s hands.
The room seemed to get suddenly darker as though the candles’ flames had diminished. Asp could see a light reflected in Madame Sosay’s eyes. She followed the fortune teller’s gaze to find the source of light. It seemed to be the crystal ball, where the collected candlelight formed into one bright point of light. It seemed to quiver and bounce around the base of the crystal ball. It must be the flickering of the candlelight that makes it move like that, she thought.
“I want you to imagine yourself in a safe place,” said Madame Sosay. “Perhaps a room in your home, or a favorite place in nature. Wherever is the most comfortable.”
Asp imagined herself back in her apartment, sitting in an armchair by the window with Iris in her lap. She felt suddenly more at peace, though she felt that her senses were heightened.
“Now breathe deeply three times,” instructed Madame Sosay. Asp complied. “Note your feeling of relaxation. You are safe here too,” said Madame Sosay. “Now, I am going to blow out the candles so that I can see more clearly. Remember this relaxed feeling, and stay this way as the room darkens.”
Madame Sosay blew out each of the glowing candles around them one by one. Asp focused on feeling relaxed and found that each doused candle brought her even further into a calmness that enveloped her. Madame Sosay blew out the final candle, but the room was not completely dark. The bouncing, vibrating light inside the crystal ball still glittered on.
“Imagine that as you rest in your place of safety,” said Madame Sosay, “you are visited by a stranger. They are kind to you, and you enjoy your interactions with them. They make you feel at ease.”
Asp imagined that a slightkin woman her own age was sitting in her apartment with her, chatting lightly and laughing.
“This stranger asks you a question which you will answer in your mind. But before you hear the question, I want to tell you a truth.” Madame Sosay paused here, and the light quavered for a moment. “You can always change your mind, and that will change your future.”
Asp listened carefully and nodded to herself. I’m ready, she thought.
“The question,” said Madame Sosay a moment later, “is what is yet to come for you?”
Asp’s mind began racing. I hadn’t really thought about a longer term goal than sustaining what I have. That’s the best you can hope for in my line of work. I want to get to a point where I can do something extra. Maybe do something good for somebody. I could–
Suddenly, the light in the crystal ball flashed, engulfing the whole ball in light. Then it appeared at the top of the ball, sending bolts of lightning down into the bottom of the ball. Then the passing of many suns and moons, reflected sunlight and moonlight shining on a sea at the base of the crystal ball. Then, slowly, the light returned to its small, quivering point, and for a moment, it looked as though it may go out entirely. But it slowly grew again, expanding in little bursts and vibrating in space in the ball, then grew bigger still, until suddenly, light poured out of the point in columns, brightly illuminating the room around Asp and Madame Sosay. Asp could see Madame Sosay’s eyes clearly as the light flashed, and surprise and wonder shone in them. The light in the crystal ball expanded quickly now, filling the room so that there was nothing to see but blinding light.
“Stop!” cried Madame Sosay.
Asp snapped back to full attention. Her apartment and her guest left her mind. Her breathing grew more rapid. The light faltered, then disappeared. It was pitch black.
Madame Sosay uttered a few words in a strange tongue under her breath, and a pair of glowing golden lights appeared next to them. In the warm light, Asp noted that Madame Sosay looked frazzled.
“I would ask if you saw that,” said Madame Sosay, “but I feel as though that would be foolish.”
Asp breathed deeply. “So, not everybody has a crazy light fill up the room?”
Madame Sosay shook her head. “Most people don’t get more than one image. You got three. And I’ve only ever seen the light get close to that huge with one person before. A mighty adventurer many years ago now.”
Asp tried to process this. “Okay, so . . . what’s my future?”
Madame Sosay smiled sympathetically. “You’re going to face a lot of pain and trouble, and you’re going to do a lot of traveling. The way the lightning became the sun and moon tells me that you will be traveling because of the pain and trouble. But the growing light . . . you’re going to do something–or somethings–that matter a great deal. In fact, it’s important enough that the fates haven’t allowed us to see it. We can’t tamper with what we don’t know about.”
Um . . . this sounds like a load of horseshit to me. Me doing something that the fates would care about? Enough with this. Time to get to business.
Asp assumed a frustrated tone. “So I don’t get to know my future?”
Madame Sosay. “Well, you know you’ll have to move because of struggles, but yes, I can’t tell you everything you want to know. I’m sorry.”
Asp leaned in slightly. “You certainly don’t expect me to honor our deal if you can’t deliver.”
Madame Sosay frowned. “I can offer a discount for the partial reading.”
Asp reached for her coinpurse, then stopped. “Actually, I have another idea,” she said. “I need a favor, and I think you can help–if I paid you in full and compensated you in addition for your time, would you help me?”
Madame Sosay furrowed her brow. “What do you need me to do?”
“I know a guy who needs convincing of something, and I think he’d trust you more than me,” said Asp. “My friend is getting unfairly picked on by this guard, and I was hoping you could talk him into stopping.”
Madame Sosay cocked her head to the side. “But why me?”
“You know him,” said Asp. “Bertram Pondfish.”
Madame Sosay looked at Asp. “You didn’t come in for a fortune,” she said.
Asp smiled innocently. “Not that I didn’t appreciate it, but no.”
Madame Sosay smiled. “Credit where credit’s due,” she said. “I don’t know whether to trust you, but if your future is that important, I’ll help you.”
Asp looked down. That’s one way to get it done, I guess.
—
“You’re looking for Bertram Pondfish,” Asp told the courier. “He’s a guard, about your height, short black hair, kinda schlubby.” She watched the young man scribble her description. “Don’t write ‘schlubby.’ And don’t tell him I said that.”
The courier nodded. “Is it important?”
Asp looked seriously at the boy. “She said it’s of the utmost importance, but only Officer Pondfish can know the rest.”
The courier nodded again. “He’ll be by soon,” he said. “I’ll see to it.”
“Good,” she replied. “Good luck.”
He scampered away, and Asp went back into Madame Sosay’s humble storefront. The fortune teller was reading over a script that Asp had written for her.
“Unspeakable things are in store for you if you trouble that girl again?” Madame Sosay read, her voice uncertain. “I don’t know if I can lie to him.”
Asp gritted her teeth. “I just sent for the courier. We have maximum an hour before our friend arrives. Are you telling me you can’t do this?”
Madame Sosay’s eyes grew distant for a moment, and Asp could swear she saw a flash of light reflected in her eyes. “I can do it.”
“Excellent,” said Asp. “You know, if it’s a matter of payment, I’m open to renegotiating the terms. I can offer you more money.”
“It’s not the money,” said Madame Sosay. “It’s my integrity. What I do is real. I don’t like the idea of misrepresenting it to mislead a longtime customer.”
Asp looked at Madame Sosay closely. She’s gonna bail at the last second. I’m not asking anything else of her–it would just blow up in my face. Time for plan B.
“Give me your dress, or another one you have like it,” she said to Madame Sosay calmly.
“Excuse me?” said Madame Sosay. “My dress?”
“Your dress, or one like it,” said Asp. “Perhaps one he’s seen you wear before.”
Madame Sosay looked stern suddenly. “What possible purpose do you have for my clothes right now?”
Asp smiled. “Because,” she said sweetly, then quickly lowered her voice and added a raspy edge to it in an excellent mimic of Madame Sosay’s voice, “I’m gonna be you, then.”
Madame Sosay’s eyes grew wide. Again the flash of light. Where is that light coming from? wondered Asp. It’s dark in here. Madame Sosay smiled, and Asp could see in her eyes that it was genuine. “An elegant solution. I am beginning to see how you are bound for big things.”
Asp cocked an eyebrow. “You’re okay with this?” she said in her own voice again.
Madame Sosay shrugged. “I’m not in support of it,” she said. “But neither do I oppose it. I will allow it.”
“If you’re not in support of it,” said Asp gently, “what would I need to do to convince you to teach me the right order of lighting and blowing out the candles?”
Madame Sosay laughed. “Always counterclockwise, starting from yourself,” she said. “And the order is–”
“Acquainting questions, which I imagine is catching up when you’re with a return customer, followed by imagining a safe place, blowing out the candles, observing the light, and explaining it,” finished Asp. “I paid attention.”
Madame Sosay smiled and shook her head. “You mind if I listen in? This is exciting.”
It was Asp’s turn to laugh. “Be my guest. Say, can Bertram see the light?”
Madame Sosay shook her head again. “Nope. He really wants to be able to, but he can’t.”
Asp smiled. “Perfect.”
—
Asp was applying the last of the aging makeup she needed to look convincingly like Madame Sosay. She was in a long black gown with a shawl with constellations knitted into it slung over her shoulders. Madame Sosay had told her that Bertram had complimented the shawl months before, and Asp hoped it and the low light would be enough to make her into the fortune teller.
The front door slammed. “Madame Sosay?” came a panicked voice.
“He’s here,” whispered Madame Sosay. She was with Asp in the backroom.
Asp put down the makeup brush and turned to the door to the front room. “Be right out,” she called in Madame Sosay’s voice. She turned to Madame Sosay. “Wish me luck,” she whispered.
Madame Sosay rolled her eyes and smiled. “Good luck,” she whispered.
Asp assumed a serious look and walked out into the front room. A man in a green guard’s uniform stood nervously behind the chair at the table. He looked at Asp closely, and his stiff posture softened a bit.
“Madame Sosay,” he said deferentially. “You said it was of the utmost importance.”
Asp made her face even more serious. “It is. You are at a crossroads. I thought it responsible to tell you. Please, sit.”
The slightkin man quickly sat down. “You look nice today,” he said quietly. “What’s new?”
“It’s only about you today,” said Asp. “What is happening in your life?”
“Oh, it’s been hard,” said Bertram. “I’m still fighting with my brother, and mom’s getting sicker, and work has been really getting to me. I feel overwhelmed.”
Excellent, thought Asp. That will help me. Then, suddenly, she felt a great pang of guilt. It’s sad for him, I mean, but good for right now.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Asp. “I will admit that what brought you here today will greatly affect your current situation.”
Bertram leaned in. “Please, tell me.”
Asp withheld a smile. “Imagine that you are in a safe place. You have been here before, and it is exactly as you left it–peaceful and safe. You are visited by a stranger, and you discover as you speak to them that they are kind and share enjoyable company with you. After a time, they ask you a question.”
Then, as Asp asked the question, Bertram’s quiet, shaking voice joined hers: “What is yet to come for you?”
Asp slowly blew out the candles, counterclockwise from herself, and said, “Take my hands.”
Bertram lightly held her hands. The room darkened. The dancing light at the center of the crystal ball zipped around suddenly before returning to the center. The light became a great mask which twisted and became contorted and monstrous. It blinked away back into a point of light.
“Ah,” said Asp simply, trying to build tension.
“Is it over?” asked Bertram, his voice weak.
“Yes, I have seen what there is to see,” said Asp.
“So, what is it?” Bertram’s voice was quivering now.
Asp took her hands back from him and folded them before her. “You brought me two images this time,” she said.
“Two?” repeated Bertram in shock.
“Two,” said Asp again. “The first, a young woman. Blond hair, strange features–I thought her an elf at first.”
“Agnes,” said Bertram. “I keep trying to set that girl right. She’s bent on mischief and worse. I had to draw the line somewhere, for her own good.”
Asp kept herself from reacting. “But that image became another: a lightning storm on the sea. Great troubles. And since the girl became the storm, I believe she will be the source of your troubles. For your own protection, I recommend you leave her alone.”
Bertram sat quietly for a moment, then shook his head. “I can’t. If I don’t take her in the next time I catch her, she’s gonna get caught by someone who won’t try and help her through it. It’ll be worse for her that way. And I can’t go disregarding the honor of my position.”
Shit, an honest guard. Push harder. “I’m afraid you don’t understand the heights of these problems,” she said loudly and with finality. “People fall apart from less every day. Don’t invite this into your life.”
Bertram’s face paled. Still, though, he shook his head. “I’ve got plenty of troubles either way, as I see it. I mean, the kind of troubles I would invite by doing that would be just as bad at the end of the day.”
Seriously? she thought. I thought this guy was devoted to these fortunes. How do you convince someone who’s not afraid of anything? She stared at Bertram, studying him. He was staring at the crystal ball absently. His eyes searched the ball as though he were looking for something. It hit Asp suddenly. Right–here goes nothing.
“There is one other thing,” she said, playing up the raspiness. Then, she lowered the volume of her voice to just above a whisper. “One thing you may be pleased to know.”
Bertram’s eyes raised from the crystal ball to Asp’s eyes. “That’s strange,” he said, squinting in the darkness. “I thought your eyes were brown.”
Asp’s body went rigid. He knows. Fuck. What do I do? Her mind raced. She took a deep breath. “They change went I receive revelatory news,” she said calmly. “Discovering this has made them blue for now. After you have acted on what I tell you, they will return to brown.”
Bertram looked back, his mouth slightly open, fascinated. “Oh!” he said. “I never knew.”
“The news is,” she said, pausing for effect, “that if you can protect this girl from the crystal ball from facing punishment, you will gain something.”
Bertram cocked an eyebrow. “Like what?” he asked.
Asp smiled slightly. “You will gain the ability to see what happens in the crystal ball.”
Bertram stared back, wonder on his face. He seemed to want to speak, but found himself unable to create a sound.
“It’s true,” she said. “If you protect her, you will be walking down a path that leads you to understanding the visions. I would be very proud to have you see what I see when you come in.”
Bertram looked beside himself with joy. “Thank you for summoning me, Madame Sosay,” he said. He bowed. “I will protect her. I swear to you.” He stood. “Is there anything else?”
Asp shook her head. “No,” she said gently. “Good luck following your new destiny.”
Bertram smiled widely and reached for his coinpurse. “The usual rate?” he asked.
Asp shook her head again. “This one was free,” she said. “You had a right to know, no price attached.”
Bertram smiled and put a helm on the table. “For your time,” he said, and he set out the door.
After the door closed, Madame Sosay came out from the back room. Asp picked up the helm and handed it to the fortune teller. “For your time,” she said.
Madame Sosay laughed. “You were good. I could hear well enough to know why he believed you.”
Asp grinned. “Thanks. Hey, what does it mean when the light turns into a scary mask?”
Madame Sosay narrowed her eyes at Asp. “What are you talking about?”
Asp gestured to the table. “When I did everything the way you did, I saw the light turn into a mask that turned really disgusting and scary.”
Madame Sosay raised her eyebrows. “Flower child, I don’t know who you are, but you should not have been able to see that without casting a spell.”
Asp looked like she had heard a tasteless joke. “What?”
Madame Sosay sighed. “What you did was magic. So either there’s magic in you, or somebody’s looking out for you.”
Asp stared at the ground, then shrugged. “So what does it mean?”
Madame Sosay laughed. “It means that the person getting their fortune told is going to meet someone who misleads them into something that’s bad for them.”
Asp laughed too. “That might have been useful for him to know. Oops,” she said casually.
The two women laughed together.
—
Asp finished her walk through the city and arrived at the window to Agnes’s hotel room. She knocked twice and stood casually as people walked by. The window swung open, and Agnes poked her head out.
“Is it done?” she asked.
Asp smiled easily. “It’s done.”
Agnes breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks,” she said. “He was really closing in on me.”
“The fortune teller was a good idea,” said Asp. “He ate it right up.”
Agnes smiled devilishly. “Now that I know I can send you at a crazy idea and have it work anyway, I think I’m gonna be more comfortable.”
Asp smiled, but she was thinking, And that’s all I am to you. A way out of trouble.
“So you convinced the fortune teller to tell him to leave me alone?” asked Agnes.
“Not quite,” said Asp. “I had to be the fortune teller.”
Agnes’s eyes grew wide. “Nice,” she said. “You wanna come in? I just scored some ash.”
Asp started to agree, then shook her head. “I have some things I have to do.”
Agnes raised her eyebrows. “Really?” she said. “That’s the first time you’ve turned me down.”
Asp shrugged. “Like I said, I have some things to do.”
Agnes shrugged back. “Fine,” she said. “See you later.”
“See you,” said Asp. She turned and walked back through town towards her own apartment. The streets buzzed around her, and she persisted through it with singular focus. Her attention was not drawn by the mysteries of the marketplace or the plenty of the shops or even the constant hum of people talking. She used her key to unlock the door and went inside.
She set down her things and sat in her armchair. Iris hopped down from the windowsill and leapt onto Asp’s lap. The kitten curled up and resumed slumbering. Asp looked around her place as though seeing it for the first time. She looked over to the other armchair, empty by the window.
“Hi, I’m Asp,” she said to the chair.
I’m Isla, she imagined a kind stranger said.
“It’s nice to meet you, Isla,” she said. “You know, I got big news today.”
Oh, that’s nice, said Isla in her mind. Tell me about it.
“Oh, I don’t know everything about it, but I’m apparently bound for big things.”
Wow, that must be nice. I bet you feel important.
“I do, Isla. I feel like all the things that are bothering me now must not be that important. It makes me think–”
She sat silently for a moment.
Makes you think what?
“It makes me think that I must change a lot,” said Asp.
Why’s that?
“Well, mostly because I don’t do anything important now. I wonder what changes.”
Maybe you decide to change, Asp.
“Maybe,” she said. “But why?”
Asp imagined that Isla smiled and leaned in to speak. Maybe why doesn’t matter. Maybe the change is all that matters.
Asp smiled. “Maybe the change is all that matters,” she repeated.
And so she sat that afternoon, enjoying her chat with a stranger in her safe, comfortable place.
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