The Void-Walker led the human deeper into the Evershade Exchange headquarters.
Only then did the conversation continue.
"You came at the right time," the Void-Walker said.
Its voice carried less relief than calculation.
"Pests have started appearing and interrupting our plans."
The curly-haired man did not answer immediately.
He had already seated himself.
A hand mirror had appeared from somewhere inside his coat, and he was studying the human face he wore with lazy scrutiny, as though the report of continental instability were mildly less interesting than the line of his own jaw.
The Void-Walker waited.
Patience was one of the few virtues his kind had refined well.
At last, the human spoke without lowering the mirror.
"Relax," he said. "We've already done enough damage."
His tone was casual.
"The Exchange doesn't need to win cleanly to survive. It just needs appetite to exist."
He tilted his face slightly, checking the reflection from another angle.
