Strange is never particularly nervous in a conversation or a first meeting — he always just barrels straight into it with the same flippant nonchalance, as if he’s known the other person for ages, and sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it’s terrible — but Gwenaëlle is, somehow, particularly easy to talk to. Possibly because she’s even more at ease and straightforward and in her element; doesn’t mind answering his questions, doesn’t seem to mind him prying.

So, elbows still propped comfortably against that banister, he shoots her another sidelong look. What kind of woman could terrify a god who’d once tried to subjugate an entire planet?

Food for thought. He has a few. But he lets that description sidle past, notes it for later, and says instead: “I was getting that impression, from your saying they wouldn’t be on our side. I haven’t covered all of Comparative Religion 101 in my Theodosian studies yet — would they really throw in for Corypheus?”