Nice clothes, clean face, interesting weapons. What do they call Alti, in the south? She is one of them, above the hoi polloi with a ladder underfoot. Well, good for her. Not Calpernia's problem. In fact, it could be Calpernia's gain, if this woman wants to be a bulwark.

Calpernia attempts to summon the veneer of friendliness, but even she knows she has no charm. Her smile shoes off her gap tooth, and every motion of her face reminds her how thin and sallow her skin is. "Some middling demons. Despair and rage, I think. Two of one, one of the other."

A failure to appear anything but Tevene, this absolute lack of fear of demons. She's only been in the south very recently; later, she'll look back and cringe at how obvious she's been.