"One might think a place of this nature might invest in nametags," Abigail muses. She pours his tea and nestles a ginger biscuit next to the cup on its matching bone china saucer before handing it to him with impeccable manners.

"I am Lady Abigail Pent," she says, "lately of the Koniortos Court and erstwhile heir to the Fifth House. Cream and sugar?"

She proffers both. "As for my studies: this place is an absolute treasure for me; I spent my life researching the boundaries of the River and the liminal spaces between it, the natural world, and the place beyond...and then I happen to pop in here. An island, as it were, existing simultaneously within the River and offering passage back to the living world – there is so much I can learn here!"