Is he? [ Good for a laugh, that is. Even smiles are rare from Athos. Sturmhond can’t help smiling himself, at the image. ] Well, don’t tell him so. You’d probably offend him.

[ He wonders now what his friend thinks of her. Whether this is something that would interest him. Perhaps he’ll ask; if there’s anyone who deserves a bit of happiness, it’s Athos.

In the meantime, he pours warm water over the purple stain on Tess’ fingers. That doesn’t actually do a lot to remove it, which says good things about its potential as a dye. The paintbombs might be potent, though. He lets her go, and then stands up with a shake of his head. ]

I don’t know, but we needn’t put them over the fire, anyway. They’ll take boiling water, and now that we know this works, we might as well use it. Does your rover have a kettle we can borrow?