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‘Are you sure? They look pretty small, especially that Lilium,’ said Peter

Everyone was hushed and if Clara had been closer she would have kicked hiht, of suppressed anglo rage Can’t trust them, can’t kick them out, or back

‘So? She’s always been small,’ said Ruth ‘When they hatched she almost didn’t , but I could see Liliu to crack the shell’

‘What did you do?’ asked Jeanne

Her face, like all of theirs, was lit by candlelight, but while it ave her a de

‘What do you think I did? I cracked the egg for her Opened it up enough for her to get out’

‘You saved her life,’ said Peter

‘Perhaps,’ said Jeanne, sitting back and al into the shadows

‘What’d you mean, perhaps?’ demanded Ruth

‘The emperor moth’

It wasn’t Jeanne who spoke, but Gabri

‘Tell me you didn’t just say "the emperor moth",’ said Clara

‘I did, and for a reason’ He paused, to make sure his audience ith him He needn’t have worried

‘It takes years for theinto an adult,’ he said ‘In its final stage the caterpillar spins a cocoon and then it dissolves completely until it’s just liquid, then it transfore emperor moth But it’s not that easy Before it can live as a ht its way out of the cocoon Not all make it’

‘They would if I was there,’ said Ruth, taking another gulp

Gabri was uncharacteristically silent

‘What? What is it?’ deht their way out of the cocoon It builds their wings and le that saves them Without it they’re crippled If you help an elass stopped at her lips For the first time since any of thelass so hard on the table it shot a plume of Scotch into the air