"I'm exploring." On a certain level, Kitty's not actually certain how much Bartimaeus knows of her, outside of who she is in a crisis. In the Other Place, there'd been an intermingling of memories, a fluidity that left her with some sense of knowing him. She wonders if he's got the same for her. She wonders if he knows of her love of sweets, of her love of travel and reading. Because honestly - this is the first time they've actually talked, isn't it, when there's not death on the line. Every conversation they'd had until now, there was something far greater at stake; her life, Nathaniel's life, the rebellion, the fate of all London. She wishes, a little achingly, that it could stay like that. She wishes she could just talk with him like Ptolemy once had, to learn of him and who he is. She wishes it weren't going to fall apart.

"After Nouda and all them, I left London. Went to Brugges and stayed with Jakob for a while while I was getting up my strength. - Have you ever been there? It's utterly beautiful. But completely boring; I'm so glad I didn't follow Jakob there to begin with, when he first departed for the continent." For many reasons, as it turns out. "So after that, I went to Paris, and then to Prague, and now I'm here. It's not my favorite city, but it's not bad, either. I've picked up a few words of German."

She reaches out when he's not looking at her, and traces a finger over his head. A neighbor of hers had kept a parakeet that had liked to be stroked like this. Maybe he will, too.

"Is this your first time back on Earth? Since all that? You're looking - " Ragged and bedraggled. "Quite recovered."