Karst immediately registered the other woman as not only competent but tough, another potential ally. She also recognized that the woman was wary and unsure of her, but clever enough not to let it show. Good. Karst gave the newcomer a polite nod (that was how Southerners recognized one another as strangers, assuming she remembered correctly) and kept a carefully-measured distance from her, watching carefully.

This was familiar. The recognition of paranoia not unlike her own, the careful and cautious arrangement of a meeting with an unknown person in a public area, these were things Karst remembered and found moderately comforting-- except when her mind painfully reminded her that the familiarity was from her meeting with Felix in Madra...

She ignored the pain of loss and mentally promised herself she would protect others until she could find a way home to carry out her mission. And Marona was as good a person to protect as any.