Asadi rises with the scrape of chair over floor, placing herself directly between cat and cryptographer. He meets her eyes, a reluctant flicker of his gaze from the feline perched above to her locked expression, and holds it only a shade shorter than the typical interval.

"I fail to see how that's relevant," he says diplomatically, partially addressing the form or consciousness or entity in mammalian shape. "It hurt you. Call it an opportunity for a fair exchange."