One character goes on a date that goes badly; the specified details include being drugged and physically injured by the date partner, with further details withheld but implied to include sexual assault. One character is neurodivergent, and has suffered parental abuse and bullying in the past. In the present of the story, bullying attempts also occur but are quickly shut down. She has a history of panic attacks; in the present of the story, the possibility of another attack is mentioned on several occasions but no actual attacks occur. Several of the characters are adult siblings whose parents have died; not so recently that they are still actively grieving, but recently enough that the question of what their lives will be like without them is still an ongoing topic of conversation. Instances of xenophobia include several characters who are casually racist against Liadens and one character who is violently xenophobic against norbears.