No, Laura realizes, Eshal is right: she asked for something more theoretical than will you do work for me. But the real question encompasses too much. It is impossible to answer, what do you wish to do when this ends? Laura is not convinced it will. Imagining otherwise feels treacherous.

Her gaze drops to her hands, one rubbing the knuckles of the other as she thinks, trying to determine which details might help Eshal. Everyone wants more information, but they do not say which details they want. They never tell her which parts are important. "Reis put lyrium on my bones. He was a mage. My--Sarra Kint was not."