Hickey rolls his eyes dramatically. But he gives the owl beast one more look, staring into the thing's eyes, as if that would somehow help him understand the beast more or communicate to it hey, I'm more worthy of this than she is.
It's also that Hickey realizes, for the first time,
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It's also that Hickey realizes, for the first time,
"Wait a moment, I'm back in the bloody Arctic!"
Or a dream, dingus.