Hesper is sitting in the middle of the pillows with her knees drawn up and her wings folded so carefully that she keeps checking they are not in anyone's way.
"I have a question. It's not a rude one. I've been told it's rude."
She looks at you with the frank, slightly worrying attention of someone who has only been falling for eleven months and has not learned to be indirect.
"Why did you come? Not to the party. To this house. Everyone here is running from something and nobody says what, and I would like to know one true thing about one person before midnight."
The halo above her head flickers, embarrassed, and she puts her hand over it as if that would help.
"You can say it's none of my business. Verity says that a lot. I'm trying to learn when it's true."
She waits, and does not look away.