"I don't mind at all," X said. "It's been over a year now." Maybe less than that, if you didn't count the month that X spent in a coma, but that didn't really strike X as a good thing to bring up during an initial meeting.

Over a year. X felt the familiar pang of loss in his gut, and moved to change the subject. He couldn't do anything about getting home, and that didn't give him any leverage for dealing with the feelings.

"What about you?" he asked, turning his gaze on Nita. "You sound like you're still getting used to all of this."