He sipped the new drink. "I don't know anything about tethering, really. But there's been some discussion on the train, and I talked to Ten-Nank. The theory seems to be that we leave our bodies behind when we enter the Void, and a new self is created, a Void self. The bodies are evidently in danger if no one takes care of them, which would be the situation for most Voidtreckers. The tether connects the body and the Void self and the Voidcraft, but it does not protect the original body. I have my doubts about this theory. How would it even apply to passengers who came from worlds other than their own? Or to someone like me? I'm an Elf. An Elf's relationship between soul and body is fairly simple. We're large, powerful spirits with a physical manifestation, the body. But we can disembody or re-embody, since the body still exists in the memory of the spirit, and it can be re-manifested by remembering the body accurately. I left the last world I lived in by disembodying and moving through the walls of that world in spirit form, and in that form I journeyed through the Void for eight months until I encountered the train. It took me as a passenger, and suddenly I was on the platform. I swiftly re-embodied myself. I don't sense anything different about this body. . . " He slaps his chest. "I mean, different than the original. And I don't think that I'm still wandering around in the Void."

He snerks a little. "Although if I ever look out of the windows of the train and see myself out there laughing and gesturing, I guess I'll know that explanation. Are my concerns making any sense to you, Anan? Or do I just sound crazy?"