"Nothing stays a secret here for long," she answered, turning to set her feet lightly on the ground. Her back to him, she ran her hand absently over the shelving as she walked, looking back at him over her shoulder. "Even the things you think will stay locked inside your heart forever." There was the barest hint of something other than her usual elegance in her voice, a dark edge to her words. "So you may as well stop clinging to your old ways, your old thoughts. Be upfront with everything you are and they won't be able to use it against you."

She moved behind a shelf and out of his immediate line of vision. "I'm not an extraordinary human, by the way. I'm not human at all. In fact, there are less humans than...others, here. What can you do that's so inhuman?"