"They do. And yet, they are feathers all the same, merely branching differently than most," Kristoff maintains calmly. "They have lost their wings...they haven even lost the muscles that would allow them to flap them. But they remain birds."

And Vincent came in. Looking like something that cat dragged in, except that no Doomstadt cat would have such poor taste.

In fact, he looks like ... Kristoff inhaled deeply. ...The very faint hint of anise.

"...Stomach problems, Mr. Amorason?" he asks drily.