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Susan cherishes her time in the lab with Galahad. She likes the care he takes, his attention to detail. It's lovely to know that they can work equally well in parallel, side-by-side with complimentary tasks, quiet and totally focused on their individual projects, and in collaboration. When they do speak, he's delightfully precise with his words and direct with his questions in a way that is, in turn, novel and refreshing. They've made great headway with their work, and now that the Mansion has settled into winter and there are fewer arthropods to easily discover and inventory, outside of the soil samples they continue to take and investigate under the microscope, they can settle into cataloguing and categorizing their notes from the spring, summer, and autumn. Sometimes Constance is present, too, and that's also lovely: they all get along well, and there's something ever so settling about three heads bent carefully over scientific pursuits. Typically, when Constance is there, Susan and Galahad work independently so as not to distract her, but sometimes the three of them break for tea and a brief chat. Outside of sex and archery practice, it's really one of the highlights of Susan's days.

Today's stint in the lab has been varied: Constance is elsewhere, and Susan and Galahad started with a discussion about adapting Earth-based classification systems to accommodate otherworldly species (this is a conversation that they have weekly, at the very least), and then fell into separate projects - Galahad has been drawing insects not captured in any books in the library to create a scientific field guide for their local environs, and Susan has been counting microscopic organisms in winter soil samples to compare with the measurements Lan Zhan took on the day Lan Wangji was switched out. But there's also something pressing on her conscience: the year is slipping more rapidly toward Dark, and she's been procrastinating on an essential task out of reluctance to speak to Magnus. It's high time she regain momentum.

She pushes back from the microscope, makes a careful note of the current tally of living organisms, and turns to Galahad. "When you've got a moment," she says, "I should like to show you something." Cognizant of the fact that he gets easily chilled, and to provide him with an out should he require one, she clarifies, "Outside."

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"Yes, precisely," relieved as always that she and Galahad can understand each other so plainly. She flashes as smile at him and ducks into the cave's entrance, switching on her electric torch and gesturing for him to follow. "Would you like to hear of the preparations I've set in motion?"

"I would," he answers, as he follows her inside. The cave hasn't changed much, but there's always a sense of stepping into another world.

By now, Susan has sorted out the most expeditious route to Little John's former quarters, and she takes it now, neatly skirting around a rockfall at the edge of the larger, semi-open room of the cavern that serves as a hub, of sorts, between different parts of the system and heading straight for the stairs. As she walks, she says, "In addition to a pantry - inconveniently-located though it may be - to which he hasn't got access and about which he's got no knowledge," she says, "Constance and I are working on a way of testing whether he's contaminated additional food or drinks. In the meantime... I've been warned off confronting him directly, and that he shan't take kindly to interventions, but if he had shown up at Wanderer's Gather," and she's glad he did not, "he wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the food. I hope to confine his kitchen use to one location, used by no one else, but I haven't sorted out a way to do it yet. SecUnit might be able to monitor his kitchen usage, but consequences for violating the restrictions are harder to establish. Lan Wangji and Bacchus are both concerned by his power set."

Galahad is silent -- overwhelmed. This is what Claudius has always wanted, and thought impossible for so long: a community that closed ranks around him, not to attack Luo Binghe, but to protect Claudius from him, to treat what happened to him as unacceptable, and to take steps to prevent it from happening again or to anyone else. He understands now why Susan thought it important to show him these things. He knows how Claudius will feel, being told.

"Thank you," he says quietly.

"It's the least I can do," says Susan, with real regret. "I should like to be able to do more."

They've reached the stairs up to the little room she and Lancelot have been converting into food storage. Together they've figured out enough basic carpentry and found enough extant supplies that there's a locking door at its entrance. She opens it, and then gives Galahad the spare key. Inside, though they've not yet removed the old bed, shelves crowd every wall, and on each shelf lies food she's ferried in secret from the Mansion: preserves she's made and found; great dried meats and sausages, wheels of cheese, vats of flour and grain, and all the beer and wine that Little John had left behind. Some of the shelves are clearly attempts produced by amateurs. The skill with which they're built improves deeper into the room.

He puts the key into his messenger bag with his other important items, hardly taking his attention from the vast quantities of supplies Susan has amassed. It becomes clear to him that she didn't do this alone, and that, too, is striking: Lancelot worked, too, to make this place safer for Claudius, in spite of their initial enmity.

"Thank you," again. His voice is very flat, expressionless.

By now, Susan has come to understand that when Galahad is particularly flat, he's feeling a very great deal. She takes a step closer and rests a hand on his shoulder, giving it a firm, lingering squeeze. Theirs isn't a relationship that has, historically, been given to physical touch, but Susan is a profoundly tactile woman and she finds she hasn't got interest in holding herself back in this moment. "Of course," she says, because it isn't as if there was anything else she might do, given the way she's positioned herself in their society, once she'd learned of what happened. "I admit that I'm torn. I should like anyone to be able to fetch food from here if needed, but if very many people know of it and have access, it's likely he would find some way to gain entry."

"Are there people you trust to be distributors?" he asks. He's not inclined to return her touch, but he appreciates it.

"Bacchus," she says, immediately.

"I trust Lan Wangji. I believe the four of us, with the help of our husbands and lovers, could bring anything to anyone in need."

"Good," says Susan. She hesitates a moment, then decides to be straightforward and plain. "I have one other concern: That someone may stumble across the door and reveal its new existence to those who oughtn't know."

Galahad is quiet, considering this. "Can it be disguised? Queen Janet may be capable."

Janet doesn't know about Luo Binghe yet. Susan has been meaning to tell her for some time now, and this is added incentive. "Perhaps. I can ask." She hesitates for a moment more, then says, "You trust Magnus." She still isn't certain that she can, but what she does trust is Galahad's judgement.

"I do trust Magnus. But this is yours. You may set boundaries around it."

"Lancelot and I have put it together, but I wouldn't say it's mine. It's for everyone's safety." Susan twists to look directly at Galahad with that unflinching gaze of hers. "Do you suppose Magnus would keep quiet about this if I asked?"

Galahad meets her eyes, equally unflinching. "He will tell Alex. I would need to ask him not to tell Sunny, I think."

"I've not had the pleasure of meeting Alex."

"Alex is reclusive." He's obviously repeating Claudius' words. Alex has eaten dinner with them several times, but Galahad's impressions are still largely based on things Claudius and Magnus have said.

"Reclusive, and not friendly with Luo Binghe?"

The idea is so absurd that Galahad simply stares at her for a long moment before he says, "No." He reminds himself that Susan doesn't like Magnus. Of course she doesn't know that Magnus has told him that Luo Binghe is the kind of powerful bully Alex despises.

"Good," says Susan, firmly. "And Magnus? He's also not friendly with Luo Binghe?"

"No." Susan doesn't need to know about Magnus' ill-fated attempt to make an ally of Luo Binghe, especially now that Magnus has thought better of it.

Susan relaxes. Perhaps the conversation shan't go abysmally. "Very good," she says.

"What other questions do you have?"

"I don't suppose there's anyone else particularly likely to stumble across this accidentally, do you?"

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