"Oh my God!" Aly said, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "You complete idiot! Allies aren't targets, they keep you from becoming crispy barbecue! Hell, if I'd been on my own for any fight, I'd have been fishbait by now! You are honestly just trying to push people away because you think they're going to get hurt, aren't you? Well I've got a newsflash for you, Walter Cronkite: People. Get. Hurt. Anyway. It's just what happens when there's a war! And, funny enough, lone-wolfing it does nothing but make you vulnerable. You can't watch your own six unless you have eyes in the back of your stupid head, and you can't defend all your sides at once. Not from an onrushing army."

She folded her arms. "For all you accuse me of carrying guilt? I think you've got a fair bit of your own, bucko."