Less remote. Ryder tried to picture a less remote Susan, and failed utterly. Having never known her any way other than, well, the Death way, he couldn't imagine what she might be like as something closer to human.

Okay, so say he could accept that she wasn't the freaky Ice Queen anymore--fair enough, fair enough. What did Camilla mean by 'lost her armor', and more to the point, what did she expect him to do about it?

"All right, so she's human again," he said, half questioningly. "Kinda. If she can take care of herself physically, what's the problem?" He paused, his inner serial killer making him add, "And what does she do with the croquet mallet? Are there skulls involved?"