Why shouldn't an afterlife be dumb? Everything I heard about it while I was alive sounded dumb. [ She says it half-laughing, but there's a sourness there that's unusual for her. It's been in the back of her mind since she arrived now—that, if the Mabari were right and her changing her face really was a sin, then trapping her in the false form she most often took would be an all-too-fitting cosmic punishment. Honestly, the only thing stopping that idea from truly taking root is that there are other natural-born humans here with her—not other damned Clawdites. ]

But fine. I'm not really attached to the afterlife theory, anyway. Fact of the matter is, something changed me from Clawdite to human, and whether it was tech or magic, it seems like a hell of a lot of trouble to go through without reason.

[ She blows out a breath. ]

Not that we've got enough to work with to figure out what that reason is yet, but it's something to keep in mind.