"It's a very light, sheer fabric. I had to borrow it from a girl a few sizes smaller than me. It did not well survive a trip through an underground river and was mostly embarrassing scraps by the time I arrived here. One hiccup and I'd be indecent," she said, as if the dress hadn't been indecent to start with.

She looked at the man as if she were considering whether or not to give her name. "I'm Nina. And yes, I suppose you can. But we have to get over to the window because Inej will have a fit if she smells smoke in here."

Nina got out of bed and moved around to the other side to help Thomas to his feet. "There's a chair by the window, you can sit there. I'm going to seize the muscles in your neck so your head doesn't bob too much so.. don't panic when you feel that."