Even as Harry shakes his head again, it's obvious he's enthusiastic about the conversation. "That's the thing, you can't observe it! How do you observe nothingness?" It's a rhetorical question, at least it's intended as one. "Most people don't think much of Pale these days. Don't spend more than a week per year in it, try to limit your exposure to porch collapse— that's where matter sinks into the Pale. It's just the stuff surrounding and separating the isolas. I've met someone who's cleared for a total of 22 days a year, and the way she described it... well, I don't think she needs to sleep anymore."

And then, abruptly, his enthusiasm wavers, just slightly. "I was told the Pale is a creation of humanity, unintentionally. That longing for the past is driving its expansion, and that one day very soon, the whole world will be gone."