There's something about his words that rings a bell of familiarity with her, though emotionally rather than anything else. "Idiot students wanting to change the world," Raine repeats, and it sounds fond. "There are worse things to be. I have some of those, myself."

And they succeeded, which is still half a miracle sometimes when she thinks about it. "There were nine of us," she says out loud, reflecting. "Months of fighting, journeying across the world to try to put it right. The dynamics were decidedly different than they are here, of course, but many of the same principles apply."

A pause, and she adds, quieter, "I'm sorry." She means it for his loss, because she can only imagine losing so many of her friends, and hopes she never has to do anything else.