I am not a lady. ( Barely a woman, her voice reedy and scratched. ) We have no ladies here. No courts. No court witches.

( A humble people, her careful nod appears to indicate, and she does not seem to relish their poverty, as much as she merely accepts it.

He speaks again, and heeding him now, her eyes seem to slant, her head tipped to the side, just so, to listen: )

I carry a great ancient. ( A shrug of her shoulder, and the snake hisses, contently. ) They fear him. They fear all his kind. And so they fear all of our kind.

( Her voice stays pleasant, if embittered: ) They say Sanwon is their brother, how they love him so. But we are children of the brother. And they do not want us.