"They're good company," Sabine returned, gently redefining Molly's assessment. She tried not to think of them in any way that made what they did for her anything other than friendship. "And they've been known to go to dangerous lengths to help them. I lost one of my oldest friends that way, the last time I was taken captive. He pushed himself beyond the range of our bond to find--" She glanced over to where Scott applied himself to a section of wall next to a support beam. "Scott, broke the bond, and used up the last of his earthly energy in the process."

A soft wistfulness overcame her features and she had to pause a moment to let the pain of that loss on top of the others fade. "He always did want to be a romantic hero, so I guess at least he fulfilled his life's ambition." She smiled then, sweet and a little wry. "He, Byron, and Ada and Sal had been with me since I got out of juvie. Sal's the only one of them left. Mimi and Corwin have been with me since a year, and two years after respectively. Leah was the newest. She and Ada got left behind when I got here. And Tsura stayed with me after a nasty incident near Lety concentration camp. About five years now."