"I can't imagine it would work anywhere. Not in the world we came from," Mathias agrees, his mouth turning up at one corner. "Germany would fall apart if we tried it there and the rest of Europe would soon follow, I expect." He's never been much of an optimist to begin with and trying to imagine his world running like the island does is more of a stretch of the imagination than he can manage.

"It seems to me that everyone here is an expert in something," he murmurs after a moment. "Even if it is something small, like cooking. We're all good at something."