"Everyone mortal is dying," is Long's equally off-hand response to this revelation. "Some of us faster than others, that is all. But I think you are not the only person to be snatched here from the jaws of a terrible fate."

He sighs, thinking of Fred (and having no inkling this woman is from the same reality as her). Sweet, hopeful Fred-- gone, and to a horrific end if the man Angel had been to be believed. And nothing to be done about it.

Gwen's further words drag his attention back to matters at hand, and he notices the slump of her shoulders.

" 'Be ye of good cheer'," he quotes. "One of the morals of the story is that neither was that captivity forever. I was freed. All prison sentences are finite eventually.

"But it is possible that my experience does lead me to accept Taxon with a bit more equanimity than I should, yes."