No offence taken, Suzie thinks. And if you'd prefer not to speak to me, by all means... She's a bit charmed by it, really. But then, Suzie tends to be charmed by the strangest things sometimes.

She considers the Vesmier's words carefully. "It's still more secure than any other method I could use to keep in touch. I'm liable to be agitated on a regular basis, but I've had... log practise in pushing that away. If surface-calm's good enough, I may be able to do that. And cutting off the emotional reactions is still better than nothing. I'm hoping to not have to lie to him at all."