He smiles wryly. "It is hard, growing up on the streets, no matter which reality you're from," he agrees. His smile soon loses the wry quality to it. "But we both found new homes. People to call our families."

The waitress comes back with their water and wine. Some traditions carry across realities, apparently, because Niverian does a quick taste-test to make sure the wine's still good before the waitress pours glasses for both of them, and then retreats to give them more time to decide what they want to eat. Niverian lifts his wine glass up a bit. "Shall we drink a toast?" he asks Purple.