Oh, I do not mean that, at all: it can be quite dangerous here, if you go to the wrong sorts of places, and of course there is the real reason we are all here, which likely means we shall all be fighting, by and by. I only mean to say you are less likely to be shot, than stabbed, or beaten. [So reassuring, Temeraire.

But--oh. Another child who thinks they might be dead, in their own world: that is something he would rather not consider, particularly so soon after Gavroche's disappearance.]

Well, it is not outside the realm of possibility, [he concedes grudgingly.] There are some people here who have died, and arrived here, or so they say: the Emperor has that power, I suppose.