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The sound of footsteps behind him arrived, and Hector turned to see Hanton there--or the illusory human form of him, at least. That would explain why the Scarf didn't sense him approaching.

Hanton's illusion looked around the chamber as if actually surveying it. And maybe he was. Hector didn't fully understand how the Sparrow's senses worked. Perhaps their illusions could also serve as conduits through which they perceived their environment. That idea sounded a little ridiculous to Hector, but then, so did telepathic birds and skeletal phantoms. Plus, Hanton's body was too big to fit through the door--as it probably was for most man-made buildings, so maybe sending in his avatar as a kind of a "sensory probe" was how the Sparrow usually handled things.

More sounds arrived, this time from outside the tree, and Hector could sense the physical form of someone with the Scarf there. He hadn't yet reached a point where he could recognize people by the aerial outlines that the Scarf described to him, but the shape was definitely familiar, at least.

"Hey, in there!" came the voice of Roman Fullister.

Ah. So this was why Garovel hadn't wanted to warn him. The reaper always seemed to like allowing Roman to get the jump on Hector out of nowhere.

"Hey," Hector responded, though he did have his questions as he saw Roman and Voreese enter together. "You said you were going back to Atreya."

"I did." Roman's smile was big and familiar. "Then I came back."

'We got to wondering what was taking you so damn long,' said Voreese. 'The Lorentians offered some kind of a sweet deal, didn't they?'

'You could've just called and asked about it,' said Garovel.

'Eh, Roman needed the flight practice, anyway.'

"I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of it."