A brief vignette, and one that I wrote mainly to understand Amelie and Oliver’s relationship. This was written very early on, between Glass Houses and The Dead Girls’ Dance... It was also before I’d thought about Bishop, or even much about Myrnin, although I already had the broad strokes of his character in mind. This little scene was written to help me understand how these very long-lived, somewhat disinterested characters would see these teenagers who’d defied them...and it also gives us a bit more about Shane’s father, since I was beginning to write that book and had a feeling for what was coming. The characters changed over time, developed more depth and richness and personality, but I think the outlines are there in this story, and the sense of their long view of things. This was originally posted as part of the Captain Obvious ‘hidden content’ on the Morganville website.