KiraI heard about the conversation secondhand, from Lyra, who had been passing the corridor outside the small sitting room and had not intended to overhear and had been unable to stop herself.

Lyra told me about it that evening, briefly and without embellishment, which was how she told things that had moved her, stripping them to their essential shape because the essential shape was enough.

Petra had been in the sitting room with a book when Lyanna found her.

Lyanna had sat across from her ...