"That was a very sensible precaution to take," Susan replied with an approving nod. If a person were being followed by people who meant her harm, clearly giving different names to slow down anyone tracking her was a very wise idea.
"Miss Lena, then," she went on, "and Pan. Does Pan speak? And if not, does he understand human speech? I ask because I had a friend at home, a rat, who spoke in squeaks but was quite capable of understanding people."
She missed the Death of Rats. She wouldn't have thought she'd ever be saying that, because every time the creature and his raven friend showed up, it was usually to disrupt her life. Compared to everything else in this world, however, they would be a welcome dose of normality.