"That's certainly true." She thinks about things an awful lot, doesn't she? But he doesn't mind; it's interesting stuff, more so for not being handed to him with a heaping dose of inadequacy.

"It's possible, though, isn't it, to meet people without hardship. To be yourself without pain. Crow may be attached to the people he met and to his circumstances, but equally, if he hadn't suffered what he did, surely he'd have met other people, and lived another life. Not the one he has now, for sure, but not a bad life."

He comes to a halt before his building, and smiles at her, a bit regretful. "This is me."