Wholly aside from the fact that Evan doesn't necessarily agree with Serene's proposed age range for reasonable employment, Evan grimaces lightly. "Really, can you imagine trying to raise a family in a place like this? Either you bring a baby along on missions, or you're stuck at the castle with your co-parent gone on life-threatening missions every three months out of four. I suppose perhaps other teams have more predictable, more, ah, child-friendly duty arrangements, but the Audentes..." He shakes his head. "Although I suppose I never asked if they have special dispensation for recruits who decide to settle down.

"No, this is wholly aside from that, and from ALASTAIR's alarming propensity for snatching children from their own homeworlds." Something that upset him then, and something that upsets him more now, when even twenty-year-olds seem half like infants themselves. He glances away from the child she's pointed out and back to her as he elaborates. "I'm sure you've seen what happens when the bugs gnaw on the corridors too much. A very similar thing happens to the people they gnaw on, although those of us who have been shifted by and large appear more stable than the distortions that happen to inanimate objects."