[Suddenly serious time again. Nita folds her arms and hunches her shoulders, the kind of minimizing body language she rarely uses.]

I wasn't hiding--well, maybe a little--but I'd only been back on Earth for...a day? two days? And it's hasn't even been two weeks since--the war ended.

[She was going to say "since Rich died," but she is doing her level best not to think about that.]

Robbie--Rider--and Pegasus people only just told me about...everything.