"I've been with fae who hurt the carnival before," Strange points out. People have come and gone but there's still enough here who remember Portland that it's worth bringing up. He did agree to help out Nightshade even before he was enthralled.

But he listens to the rest of Yuya's explanation and idly runs his hands over the grooves of the wife gem as he does so. And now they reach problem #2: Jonathan Strange isn't really patient. So Yuya's comment about needing time just makes him wrinkle his nose somewhat in annoyance.

"But how much time is enough? I waited a few days before bringing him up again—I knew that some people might still be mad, but surely that would have been enough time for people's tempers to cool."