“Under normal circumstances — under any circumstances — she was striking. Skin like polished dark wood. Eyes the colour of monsoon clouds with sunlight trapped behind them. Hair thick and wild, piled atop her head in a knot held together by a single brass pin. She moved with the careful, measured grace of a woman who had learned to calculate the distance between her body and every living thing within six feet, because six feet was the radius of the Skinfever's reach, and anything closer would begin to sicken within hours.”