⟪ part of her is thrilled at something that is... entirely human. every sentence he says seems to raise more questions in her, and it's been some decades since she'd last felt so curious without any pressure behind the acquisition of information. learning for learning's own sake. ⟫

Such things go wrong in my own lands, too. They can be achieved, by degrees, but few understand the powers they are calling upon.

⟪ the drink, though cool, has a way of warming her that she enjoys. it's a harder liquor, then. she ought to not be careless with it. ⟫

The more dissimilar things are, the more they seem to replicate in circumstance.