Chill And Dark

The Avatar, IV.

Dan Broderson's instructions to his wife, Liz, communicate to her that he intends to abscond from house arrest:

"She was mute among the tools while her gaze searched him. The window behind her was closed and blinded, but from it breathed a slight chill, like a sense of the darkness beyond.

"'You won't be here, then,' she foreknew." (p. 34)

Careful Poul Anderson readers notice:

a dramatic pause in the dialogue;

on this occasion, not wind but nevertheless cold coming from outside;

that this chill in turn points towards the outer darkness;

darkness is the unknown;

and, within what is not known, there are unspecified threats.

Then Dan responds and the conversation resumes but Anderson's conversations are always punctuated by silences and sounds, usually the wind as we keep seeing.