Certain of his path now, he joins her at the counter, leaning over it in turn. What does he need, after all, if he's to take this Palace on? He needs allies. "It takes the form of a deserted house, in the middle of nowhere. A desolate landscape—England, I think. I went in as part of a pair, which was for the best, because"—and he glances down, remembering how the whole of his cognition had screamed with one voice—"I certainly would not have got out again alone. It was like...."

He shakes his head, meeting her eye, almost jaded. "Did you ever have a dozen Personas all scream at you at once, to run for your life?"