Blue is still asleep, so this dreaming mind does not yet have the awareness that the interloper is indeed just that: an interloper. Instead, the uncertainties that Syrlya brings with him paint him in hues familiar to Blue himself, and when he turns to see him, he does not see a stranger from the station, but an old friend who wears similar shades of the kinds of feelings that Syrlya brings with him.

He sees Zel - one of his oldest and closest friends...and one of the prickliest and most suspicious of change. It's why Blue smiles fondly when he hears those words.

"Is that so terrible?" he prods. "After all these years, any change from the endless days of hiding has some merit, so long as no one is getting hurt, I think."