By contrast, Dimitri's speech is halting and thickly-accented, stumbling around unpracticed grammar. "You did. You will. I missed you. I am well, but -- you are here, and I am more happy." He flips back into Faerghan for a more complicated sentence. "My heart is back in its right place."

His calves complain again. Reluctantly, he drops back to his heels, and lingers for a moment before turning to unlatch the gate and let them back in. As he turns away, a branching scar is visible reaching up the side of his neck.