"But you let it out, sometimes," she said, lifting a shoulder. "I think maybe ... w-with feeling? It's everything or nothing, zoto. You couldn't ... start this, with me, and keep ... not feeling all the rest of it. Just like ... I h-had to ... start feeling everything I lost, with Home, to ... get close to people again. I think ..."

She kissed him, lightly. "Shutting those things off shuts everything off. And you can't work that way, yeah?"

She smiled slightly at the wriggling ferret. "Can, uh, is it okay to let him down?"