"It's all right," Melanie says agreeably. She never knew it pre-Breakdown - not until she arrived here, anyway. Regardless, there's nothing for her to mourn except her own displacement. It had been worse there - worse for people like the Balladeer - but it had been perfect for her and the other hungry children.

But the change in subject is welcome. "A few months," she says. "But I have someone very nice taking care of me." It hadn't always been that way, but that's how it is, now, and that's all that matters. "It's not so bad if you meet good people."