[ Her words settle over him. The last time Damen was taken from his home, he was taken to enemy land, where everything he encountered had felt different and strange. He'd hated it, until he hadn't. Until returning home made him miss what had been different, complicating a worldview that until then had been as straight as a line. His own smile turns melancholy now, almost mirroring hers. ]

That's what worries me.

[ He knows how easy it can be. But then he thinks of Ios, and the sea, and the palace he said he'd take Laurent to when everything was over. That's where they should be now.

He should not think of it. ]

This is not where I thought we'd be. It is difficult to think of...these machines, these powers, in my world.

Is that the future you desire?