[Liem hums gently, watching the water soak into the dark earth as he considers Gray's question. He doesn't really know where he's going—he hasn't felt like he's known since he was first uprooted from his country and dropped into the middle of the Regent's war. But he has had plenty of time to think about it in the months since then, and he's hoping tentatively that it hasn't been wasted.]

If I can go home, and there is a point to my doing so, then I would like to. If it's impossible, or futile, then I would prefer to direct my efforts elsewhere.

[That's the dilemma, isn't it? No one seems to be able to say for sure what the future might hold.]

But, in the absence of guarantees, I might lend my service to the Tribune for a while. I'll learn things more easily from within a sect than I currently am.

What about yourself?