"Do you consider yourself happy, or a genius?" She grinned at him. So careful. On the one hand there was a potentially obvious reason for it, but on the other hand the obvious reasons for things were often not the right ones.

"I can think of a better one too," she added cheerfully. "So I'm using it. I want the last name someone calls me to be my proper one, in the event that we die in some calamity or other. For example, can you see the sky right now? I can't. We could very well be doomed."