When he heard the knock on the door, Aleksander had been working up the nerve to trim his beard. With the advent of Dark, the mirror had gone back to showing him a face with painful jagged-looking scars and he was heartily tired of it. Unfortunately for him, there was plenty more season left.

Glad of an excuse to put off looking in the mirror, he went to open the door. He'd been forced to don one of the maroon-colored suits in the closet after the last of his stash of clean clothes gave out and his eyes were so sensitive he'd taken to wearing sunglasses but he was prepared, he thought, for whoever was visiting.