"I would tell 'em you're brave." Easy answer. He smiles over at Laura after he's given it, letting that reply have a moment before he goes on to the rest. "And clever, and that you can get people for 'em, if they need it, 'cause you're good and you aren't afraid of much. Or anything, maybe. I dunno if you are. It doesn't seem like it, to me. And I'd tell 'em a little bit about your claws, but just enough so they know that they're brilliant. Like, you could cut an apple in half, in the air, if someone threw it at you. So imagine what you could do if like, a bear came along and tried to tear us all to bits. You could fight a bear and win."

There's no reality in which Laura would lose, so Matthias says that with great and assured confidence, and gives her fingers another little squeeze for good measure, and another little smile. She'd murder a bear. He knows it.

"And maybe you could show off a little bit as well. Not competing with anyone or anything. Not even like on purpose. Just, stand somewhere, and then, oops, claw. We ought to work out which one of 'em has the biggest mouth," he adds, thoughtfully, "and make sure they're the one that sees it, 'cause then we're guaranteed that the story'd get out quickly. It'll be easy, once we get that going."