“They were close, then,” Claudius reflects. He looks ahead, where the trees block more and more of the moonlight, but Bichen is still a beacon behind them. “Revenge speaks to a sense of justice — but it also speaks of loyalty to one’s pack. A warning that harm to you and yours will be returned hundredfold. It’s sympathetic, certainly, common to societies evil and good. Our little society isn’t exempt.” As though still unknotting a thorny problem, looking for the lock that goes to this key, he lets out a sigh. “May I ask how he died?”