The newcomer, the Firebird formerly known as Kitty, noticed was dressed very simply for her formiddable presence. And, furthermore, she seemed very angry. Or at least sounded very angry. The Firebird understood both the anger and the futility of the anger and wished for its part to help the lady.

So she drifted down at the sound of her voice and, surveying the shelves, chose a bottle of age whiskey. Catching the bottle in her beak, she carried it to the counter and set it in front of the woman. It took several tries to grasp a glass with her talons, but eventually one was set beside the bottle.

The Firebird nudged the bottle toward the woman with a wing and said in a voice that might have telepathic or might have been aloud but at once human and inhuman, "No part of any ship. You are not where you were but you are safe."