He didn't seem inclined to get up, so Re-l scooted closer to him. She peered down at his tired face and had to acknowledge that she probably didn't look much better herself.

"I have some training," she said, shrugging, "but I was a detective, not an officer. And even that didn't work out so well. Turns out authority's not my style." It was less than nothing, conveying so little of what she'd been through, so little of how she'd changed. But her experiences were private and more than private, and she wasn't even sure she had the words for them.

"How about you?"