"You shouldn't have had to go through that, at that age. This age." Compared to the sleepy, idyllic life she'd seen in Tadfield, the whole village practically contentedly frozen in amber, she knew he'd had to grow up far too quickly in the City. Even she had to think on her feet and mature and harden, so it's hard to imagine the effect on an eleven-year-old.

"So. Adam. What happened?"

He'd held off on telling her over the network, had told her it would wait until in-person.