"We are certainly visions of subtlety in Taravast. Ask my good friend Wen Qing." But she turns her hand to squeeze his, childishly, emptily playful. Content in her own way, negotiating intimacy. "When I was a child, I asked my grandfather why we wear masks in the street. Is it protection? Is it to show our wealth? He said, Vannozza, it is to protect the world from our monstrous faces."

She laughs first, late. Shrill. "Isn't that funny?"