Oh my god, that is badass. [Like, classical hero badass, only without the godlike power.] You've talked about songs and stories. Does he show up in any of them?

[Because, look, a guy who slew a mad king and is also a great swordsman? That sounds like the stuff of epic movies starring Harrison Ford or Sylvester Stallone.]

Don't get me wrong, the public can still hold a grudge if you screwed up badly enough and it was in the news. But for the most part there's just too many scandals for them to last very long. [She shrugs.] And, seriously, your world kinda sucks.

[Veronica, you're from a musical about murder. Your world sucks too.]

It's pretty damn big—there's fifty states, though Hawaii's not really anywhere near the mainland. They've all got their own governments, but ultimately they're under the federal government of the United States. It's sort of like, uh, multiple tiny regions with their own governor and administration under one king.

[That works, right?]

Except every leader is elected by public vote, so it's not actually a kingdom, per se. [Which is where the analogy kind of falls apart.] But you're getting that so far, right?

[She groans, puts her face in her hands again.] It hurt like hell, and trust me, American high school's more like a jungle than a paradise.

[Kings, queens, princesses, conquerors—this is the furthest thing from anything Veronica has ever known. The closest thing she knows is the Heathers, with Heather Chandler as the bitch-queen of her school, but that's dwarfed by the actual princess she's talking with right now.]

Wait, wait—what conquest? And who are these First Men you're talking about?