Orpheus nods and smiles. "I think that's the general idea of the city," he says, the idle tune he's been playing drifting into a percussive beat of his fingers on the body of his guitar. It makes the circle of warmth shrink a little. "Encouraging obedience through deprivation. It's an effective method, if flawed."

He glances around them at the sodden, wintery streets. "Marriages of convenience are older than time, but I've always tried to buck that trend." Even as a young man, he married for love and passion, not practicality. "I'm not looking for love, but a little courtship would be nice," he adds with a smirk.