“Without all this?” Edan gestured to the forest surrounding Gideon’s home. “Yeah, you won’t find nature like this, in all its pristine glory, in the city. Not in any city that I’ve ever seen, anyway. I’ll give you that without an argument.”
“And you don’t want there to be,” Gideon replied bitterly.
“No, I don’t.” Edan moved cautiously to stand on the bottom step. “Cities aren’t supposed to be, well, anything but what they are. It doesn’t mean they’re the only place someone should live. There’s not a damned thing wrong with the wide-open spaces, as long as I can visit the cities from time to time. After all, given what I am and what I do, I’d have to. Probably more often than you’d like, or at least I hope so.”
“What does what I like have to do with it?” Gideon asked, even as his spirits
