I think it's the more important part, ( she says, after a moment. ) The after. I don't know how we do it, either, but I don't think that neither of us know makes it impossible. Just, I don't know, important. That I personally want to harm the Empress is a different conversation, you know.

( separate, and extraordinarily tempting all the time, but not the part that matters, not the part that would mean anything long term. the empress is the head of the monster, not the whole of it— )

And there hasn't really been— I'm not exactly, I don't belong to any group except Riftwatch. I don't know many people to discuss it with.

( she has the grasp that she can't do more without a framework; she doesn't have a framework, only the aspirations of it. )

But that's not impossible, either. It's just how it is right now.