"Wait," he repeats, low and rather miserable - but she's right; this is a duty he cannot shirk. And so he takes a breath, rubs at his eyes, and then tugs his coat closer. Keeping vigil over a severed head, to see if it'll come back to life...Lovely. What'll happen if it does? Will it start chattering with them? Will they be able to continue the interrogation of the unfortunate ghem-Miko? What a thought...

"Well," he says, trying to sound jaunty. It falls flat. "What shall we talk about in the meantime? Hopes, dreams? Aspirations? I suppose we can't discuss literature, or the latest holodramas - I suspect you don't watch the same serials as I do."