He touched one of the crystals that was sticking up and out of that eye socket, gripped it, and hauled it free. He could feel the glass edge slide against the inside of his eyelid, the root of it hauling free of the floor of his eye socket, and he could feel the fluids inside his eye stir.

“You jutht made it worth,” she said.

“I’m fine. I never bleed for long. I try to be careful, so I don’t scare people, but it doesn’t bother me much.”

“Good to know,” she said. “I know all about that.”

He pulled it free, a foot-long block of crystal, and laid it carefully down on the counter. He blinked a few times with his one eye, noticed that Ratcatcher had taken off her mask, gray furred and full-face, and decided to keep his gaze averted, for privacy’s sake, and because looking at her would let her see his face.

He concentrated, and he produced another chunk of glass, feeling it stab from the underside of his eye and out, sliding through everything in the way without doing real damage. He was careful to shape it in his mind so there wouldn’t be any sharp edges resting against his eyelid or brow.

He turned his face Ratcatcher’s way. “How do I look? Symmetrical?”

“Yeth.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said, with emphasis on the ‘you’.

“Why?”

“Not many people look me in the fathe when my mathk is off and keep from flinching,” she said.

Crystalclear’s response was cut short.

Weld wants us, Relay said. Diplomatic thing.

“Weld is asking for me,” Crystalclear said. “Good luck, guys.”

“We’ll get to know each other, I’m sure,” Big Picture said.

“Good luck,” Ratcatcher said.

Relay was already coordinating the officers. The path that led from platform to the intake center was being closed off, a metal shuttered door sliding closed. Another set of doors were being unlocked and opened.

VIPs indeed, it seemed, and from what Crystalclear could see, they were only human.

Crystalclear approached the train car, standing beside Relay. Weld and Narwhal were standing nearby.

Narwhal looked rather spectacular to Crystalclear’s vision, given the emphasis on outlines, and her having dressed up in very small, outlined objects.

“Look after them,” she said. “I’ll see the way is clear.”

“Got it,” Weld said. “You would be Crystalclear?”

“Yes.”

“Good to meet you. I didn’t think you were one of us.”

“Oh, I’m not. I can go from this to… not this,” Crystalclear said. He was suddenly aware he wasn’t sure what terminology was okay or not okay with the C-53s.

“That’s good to hear. Closer to Narwhal than anything, then. I’ve heard good things, Crystalclear. Foresight is lucky to have you.”

“Thank you. Likewise, with you and the Wardens.”

“Were you around for that broken trigger incident a week and a half ago?”