"I don't doubt it. After ten years of seclusion, however, no part of their grand unveiling could be left to chance." She looked around at the other guests and then out at the night sky. "Every part of this celebration has been carefully curated, from the artifacts on display to the opera company's program, right down to the guests present here at this very fete."

She shrugged, adjusting the hamster pelt around her shoulder. "Thus are the rules of the game set before us. It is my opinion that, in this case, subverting them would do us more ill than respecting them."