By the time most of the takeout had been eaten and the emptied containers were strewn haphazardly across the little card table, night had properly fallen. A small lantern now sat in the middle of the table, casting a warm white light. The pair running the ship--the white weasel with its form always slightly windswept and the bearded man--had dined with them on the deck.

"Nah," the weasel was saying, "I figger we got a good thing goin' here. Ty's human, an' my ID says I am--someone's gotta run this barge for y'all."

"How'd you get a human ID?!" Abi demanded; she'd opted for something halfway between her human shape and her tanuki shape tonight.

Parker, who had also abandoned her human shape for that of a long-limbed, humanoid hyena, leaned over to Teige.

"Hey," she said, and Teige bowed his horned head towards her. "Check out yer boy."

Hawk was sitting some distance away with Kim and Aram, apparently deep in conversation. Hawk looked almost relaxed, for a change, and he was laughing.

"Awh," Teige said blithely, and then leaned forward, shouting, "'Ey, Haw--"

Parker neatly placed one clawed hand under his jaw to snap it shut.

"Teige Carroll," she muttered at him, smiling tightly, "I ain't never see that kid smile before. Now you lay off makin' fun of him. I'm sure whatever's been eating at his heart will be back again without your help."

The announcer's voice was suffused in a hiss of static; the radio, sat next to Hawk's elbow and angled at his face, was either badly tuned, or the station was weak.

"...Callers from the Ellabee area reporting a crackdown on people violating curfew tonight," the announcer whispered, "and more'n a few of 'em have said the cops are carrying magic stun guns, like we've seen slavers use. So we're tellin' y'all, shelter in place if you can tonight."