There's certainly been plenty of biological work in Fortescue's world, but her interest is in the boy rather than the subject. He's a precocious one, but oddly endearing with his enthusiasm. She wonders, in the back of her mind, if he and Mirabelle would have gotten on. But she throws that line of thought away quickly. There's a lot of pain in that direction.

"I imagine there's plenty of mystery there to last you a lifetime."