Zhi took a bite. She chewed, and watched Flit, listened to him talk. She observed him for long enough after he'd stopped talking for the silence to stretch and start to become some form of awkward. She swallowed, took another bite, and talked through the mouthful. "Ye askin' t'hire me, or t'be hired?" And then, maybe because she was feeling nice, or maybe because she liked the sound of her own voice, she continued: "See, this? This ain't 'cuz I'm yer friend. Yer part o' me job wi' Thatcher. I'm gettin' paid fer this. But after this? Ye ain't me problem no more, not unless there's coin involved. And if yer lookin' t' make it down here, that's how it's gonna be. I ain't got no knowin' o' where ye come from, and I don't give a tub o' bilgewater about it -- but if yer gonna survive down here while I'm on Thatcher's gil -- and I aim fer ye to -- ye gotta know that first.
"So ye tell me which way ye want it t'be. Otherwise ye can feck off back t'whatever realm under Azeyma's boilin' light spawned ye. Don't matter none t'me."
"So ye tell me which way ye want it t'be. Otherwise ye can feck off back t'whatever realm under Azeyma's boilin' light spawned ye. Don't matter none t'me."
