"Cool," says Castor after the silence appears to be leading nowhere. "Well." He pivots a bit, rotating from one darkness to another.

"Good talk," he says wryly. "Look, obviously something weird is going on. Light isn't working right and we've got talking animals. Assuming yours talks. It talks, right? It's not just me?" Feel free to weigh in here, Persis - but no, she's still sullenly silent. "Well I don't know about you, but I've a mind to find out what the hell's going on. Come with?"