"Well...you don't have to squat," she said, a little line forming between her eyes as she tried to parse out what he was saying. "You're more than welcome to sit or stand or lie down."

Tragically, she wasn't joking.

Ariadne stirred her tea, which was really more sugar than tea at this point, but when she took a sip, she was quite pleased, closing her eyes to savor the sweetness. Sugar was increasingly rare in Valeria. She still couldn't get used to how readily available it was here. And she never passed up the opportunity for more.

When she opened her eyes again, she shook her head a little. "But I'm sure you can come up with an arrangement with almost anyone here, if you insist on paying or working. Since we're all strangers to this world, everyone's pretty reasonable."