He was right in believing that her beauty had been an armour. She had always used it that way - a mask that kept her true self safe...or at least safer from the life she had been forced into. That was one of the reasons it had hurt her so deeply to lose it...she had felt raw and unprotected. But that had been eclipsed by David's loss and even she had started to feel like her scars were less important than she had once thought.
"Yes," she agreed. "It is. I'm far from well, but I can come up with reasons to get up in the morning, now. This place is fascinating, and so different from Ravka. Or...truly, anywhere in our world."
Exploring had been one of the things she had started doing almost every day, and she was truly enjoying it. She didn't understand half the things she'd seen, but those were the things she took home - either physically or in her mind - to understand later. It kept her busy doing something useful and kept her mind off of things she didn't want to live over and over again.
"Oh, I certainly will," she said. "There was so much food, I couldn't eat half of it. It would be nice to share it with a friend."
She paused.
"Have you spoken to Nina? I keep wondering if I should approach her, but I know she's still basically under cover."
Or that was how it felt, anyway, since she hid her abilities from everyone. Genya was doing that too, more to support Nina than for any other reason.