"Hrrrr.... Well, the obvious is this recent business with Vesperrr," Skan replies, lofting his wings in a vast shrug, "It seems important enough to pay well, at least. Between us two, I'm sure we can manage to find at least one of these things he's looking for, after all."

And true again: the pay was very good. Say whatever you liked about Cordelia's motives, she was no miser. Perhaps that spoke poorly of her too, in another way.

"But if we're going any distance, we'll need to find you something to strap on by. I'm clever enough to catch you, if you fall off, but let's not chance it, hrm?"