"It is," he says. "And a lot of the time it's a pain in the ass."

Marcus has never felt settled here, but then, he's never felt particularly settled anywhere and that had never been a problem before Darrow. Until he'd found himself here, he'd had the sort of job that took up most of his time and his focus and the entire world had been more or less at his fingertips. The Church had sent him all over and when there was no work for him, they had mostly left him alone and so he'd been able to choose whatever he wanted. While that had usually been research of some kind, it had still been his choice, his life.

And now the Church has been taken from him. The world. He's never sure what to do any longer.

"But it's not all terrible," he adds, not wanting Kat to feel as if there's no future for her here. "There are some fascinating people who live here."