"Never in my life." Gideon says partly around a mouthful of chocolate, remembering a moment too late to swallow first, then speak. She clears the barrel before the next remark. "Everyone on the Ninth was too crusty and ancient for marriage, and me and Harrow spent most of our time beating the piss out of one another. But marriage featured plenty in the stories I read. Lots of people saying wedding vows to one another before charging off to heroically die."

Parties in general still feel weird. The closest she came to a party pre-ship was the little get together the Fifth House hosted, before everything went to hell. Gideon gestures vaguely in the direction of the three grooms. "The audience is too much for me. I'd rather do it privately and without a hundred people staring at me. You?"