If he notices the change in attitude — and, admittedly, it's hard not to — he doesn't draw attention to it. There's no need for him to dig into whatever fight she thought he was going to pick. Besides which, he's done this enough times by now to not be surprised at her answer, but still be, you know, disappointed about it. If only John Silver hadn't picked a legitimate gap in knowledge to set in his hands, and then give him the choice to do something about it or not.

"Kidnapping, for one thing," he says, and frowns. "It's likely they've been keeping an eye on rifts to find people with shards. They seem to be interested in finding out what makes us tick, what we're able to do, and what happens when they do shit to us."

Kidnapping, for one thing; human experimentation, for another.

"If you're going to be part of the fight, you should know the risks."