Amy’s little pet twisted around, flipping over to get her feet under her. Crouching on Amy’s leg with both hands and feet, like a frog poised to leap, she stared across the room at me.

“Huh?” her voice was quiet but high pitched.

“What do you think about all of this? How do you feel about it?”

“About my Queen?”

“Or this world, or me. Or how we’re all standing on cracked ice.”

“Cracked ice makes sense. I’ve seen too many family die.”

“Your family?” I asked.

“Yes. Starvation, hunted by people like you. Killed by machines. Killed by pollution. Age. It all feels fragile. Every death feels sudden and unfair, like ice.”

“I don’t disagree with you there,” I said.

“Dot lived on Bet until a little over a month ago,” Amy said.

“You?” Dot asked. She pointed at me, extending a tiny, doll-size hand. “I’m angry.”

“Angry? Okay. Why?”

“Because I want us to be done. I want my Queen to build kingdom, gather power and earn trust of this world. Then she can make journeys. Go through your world. Into mine. She can save more of my people.”

“I’m a distraction?”

The little tail swished. “Yes.”

“Is it okay if you come closer? It’s hard for me to see you.”

Dot craned around to look at Amy.

I saw the hesitation on Amy’s face. Worry. Thinking I’d take Dot as a hostage? I had the impression Dot wasn’t something Shin knew about as a whole, and taking her hostage would leave Amy without much recourse.

“I trust her,” Amy said.

Dot bounced down the length of Amy’s leg, across the floor, and up the frame of the bed, before perching on the foot of the bed, on the little raised bar of metal that kept the mattress in bounds.

Red hair had been combed all to one side of her head, her bat-like ears long enough they poked out of her hair and away from her head, each tipped with tufts of wispy red hair, both ears aimed my way. She had fur like a golden lab, but puppy-fuzz short, freckled with red spots that were so round they seemed artificial. She had a mouth with a shape and pronounced teeth that made me think of a tiny bear trap when the lips were pulled away, while being as expressive and wide as a cartoon character’s when closed.