Giving this a separate post to give these two room, because it's so easy to overlook Ciani and Senzei when we hit this point, and like you said they're both being interesting and awesome in their own right in this chapter. Ciani's "fuck it" move is just fabulous. And Zen's jealousy here stands out but so does his very intelligent caution, and the fact that he's picking up a lot of the same cues, realizations and vibes as Damien. (Smart lads.)

I would so love to know what Ciani's reaction to Tarrant would have been if she'd been in possession of all her knowledge. Damien and Senzei interpret quite a lot from the details of Tarrant's kit and comportment, but I think she would have seen even more. Would she have recognized he was from the Forest? Would she have been able to guess who he really was? What would she have made of him walking in right under one of her own wards? And what kinds of conversation would they have had if they'd sat down together?

A while later, she's going to tell Damien she primarily sees the Hunter not as a thing of objective, innate evil (though certainly dangerous and morally upsetting), but as Tarrant's adaptation for survival. Would that have held true for the Ciani we meet at the beginning of this book, or has she changed as a person by the end?