In the bedroom, his bedroom, Liron pauses to clip and light a cigar, an uncivilized habit, his wife used to say, but his one and only indulgence. Vorteria comes through the physical plane of the door like a ghost, assuming her womanly manifestation as she crosses the threshold. Oddly, Liron does not mind her being present while he undresses, changing from his lab clothes to his ritual robes. Vorteria has seen too much of his soul for the sight of his blighted physical substance to have much significance.