In which two men demonstrate their utility.

The scene after the comet enters its transition phase gives us the title drop for the book, and a key theme for this story.

It also has a bit of a role reversal for the former Bar Jan and Khana. We saw Khana attempting to reassure Bar Jan in a time of stress in Trade Secret, with an implication that it was something he’d done often; this may be the first time in their lives that the attempted reassurance has been given in the other direction.

I had been expecting Klyken’s admission of having thrown away his child to come back around ever since he made it. I wasn’t expecting it to manifest like this, but then I’m not sure what I was expecting.