[ She isn't sure if she'd say she's especially proficient with animals — maybe just average compared to everyone else in her home village. But to someone who has very little experience with animals overall, she can see how she might seem good with them. Another little idiosyncracy about city living. She concedes, ]

Better than I am with people, at least.

[ Animals are straightforward. Anyone can learn to read an animal with enough time and intent, including Amos, she's sure. Meanwhile, human beings are shifting and complicated, turning their faces in a hundred configurations like Rubik's cubes. She feels like people rarely even understand themselves. ]

Animals... they just want to be safe. In their minds, every person is capable of killing them. Since they don't understand words, they have to find clues about people in other ways. They see the things most people don't think about. Things like the quality of your footfalls... the shape of your posture... the path you take to approach... and sometimes even the way you blink.

[ She nods once to herself, the cat toy bobbing playfully on the end of the fishing rod with her motion. ]

There are a lot of emotions in people's everyday behaviors. I think language makes people forget that.