"Such lessons are often learned through experience, aren't they?" Fuu said. No, this really was an uncertain thing they were doing; there was no getting around it. But she would rather make an error out of kindness and mercy than mistrust and fear.

She bent to help Kit settle the hair in their makeshift raft. "We have had to trust each other right away, haven't we?" she said with a small smile, taking Kit's point. She looked up at Orcelito. In spite of his continued warnings, he had to trust the two of them a great deal to still be here at all, standing by as they took this risk.

"But I won't say don't worry. There are plenty of good reasons to. It's always good to keep the worst-case scenario in mind--that has also been my experience."