When she thinks she can see him without crying again, she holds her baby close and walks silently back to Rana's.
The room has been replaced with - something else. She has no idea what this means. She has nobody to ask but Rana. Everything she asks places her further in his debt, of course, but it hardly matters now.
She steps inside.
"Honestly I have no idea, their room doesn't have to move at the same pace as yours.
You get, like, half a point for giving a shit about it, though."
"I was thinking the same thing."
"I guess we'll take a room," he says to Catherine.
So Karen takes them to their room and opens it for them and then hands Catherine the key. There are two beds.
"You guys gonna need anything else...?"
"If you lie or attack people - probably just fairies - you're indebted to or break agreements or swear oaths falsely or anything like that you will hurt her very badly."
"...okay. I'll - try not to do any of that stuff. Thank you for telling me."
"'M gonna go back downstairs," she tells Catherine. "Time is funny in Milliways and some rooms move at different speeds than other rooms, and the speeds change, so if nobody comes for you in a while you're gonna want to come downstairs and get us so you can have, like, food, and stuff. If you need anything - either of you - you can come downstairs and someone'll help you."
She steps into the room. There's a crib for the baby, but she doesn't put her down in it.
Right, their room. Aside from the space with the beds there's another room of stone and shiny metal, with an enormous mirror on the wall. He spends a while trying to figure out whether it's safe to approach because that seems easier than thinking about anything else.
"Do you know what any of this is?"
"Um, a mirror? A really big one? I don't know what any of the other stuff is."
She sits down sadly on one of the beds and sets Ragna down so she can crawl and explore the space.
He comes over and hesitates for a second and then sits down on the same bed. Reaches for her.
She leans in and lets him hold her. It is not a very enthusiastic hug, but it's something.
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