Lady Friday

"You're really, truly not going to kill everyone?" asked Marek.

"No!" shouted Arthur. "Why do you keep asking? Do I look like some kind of crazy murderer?"

"No..." Marek sounded as if he did still think that but didn't want to upset Arthur.

"Am I correct in assuming that I address Lord Arthur?"

"Yes, I'm Arthur."

Emelena mumbled something that Arthur correctly thought was about expecting him to be taller, more impressive, have lightning bolts coming out of his eyes, and so on.

"No!" shouted Arthur. "What's wrong with you? They're people! You can't just kill hundreds or thousands of Piper's children because the Piper might... just might... make some of them do something!"

"Can't we?" asked Dame Primus. She sounded genuinely puzzled.

"They could have attacked us straight away. And Fred wanted to be one, so they can't be all bad."

"I wanted to be a Nithling with three heads once, so that's no guarantee," whispered Suzy as she lay down and raised her arms and feet.

"What's more, after a washing between the ears I thought it was possible."