[Was it denial that drove Gray's choice, or self-actualization? This isn't a question she could hope to ask now and get any sort of reasonable answer. But as Caren thinks about the other girl's rejection of where she believes she belongs, she wonders at how easily their positions might be reversed.

Is it that much different from what drove her own choice?

Down here, knotted together as those same roots that rebirthed, cradled, and tore them up, doubt creeps in quickly. She had rejected Meridian's wish out of turn, believing it to be snake oil, false doctrine. Yet the followers of either faction are the same people. Most just seek survival; it's just the accessories that change.]

I do not have an answer to the question. Words aren't enough, and they are all I can offer in these times. Ah, but...

I think most would be able to agree that his appearance was our first true diversion. Things were not as they should have been beginning from our first meeting. Let's begin there. Does that sound reasonable?