Lyra rubs her eyes and defiantly pushes her hair back out of her face. "I have to think there was a reason, Will. I have to think that our work is important, that we're changing the worlds that we live in. That we need our whole, full lives to make those changes happen, and that's why we can't be together. But it makes me angry and it makes me sad."

She bites her lip again and sits up straight on the bench.

"Well. Let me tell you about Iorek. He's doing very well, and so are the bears. Of course he couldn't write me to invite me up there, but he sent a message with a witch who was coming south anyway..."

Lyra smiles, telling the story. The midsummer sky is bright blue, and there are punters passing along the Cherwell, and Will and Kirjava are there, really, just a few universes away.