[ That softness gets his attention more than any anger ever would. It speaks to a certainty in Dextera, like Amos has for himself — he knows what he wants.

It's just so incompatible with the way he knows the world to actually work. Amos is silent for a moment as he lifts his head to look back at him, struggling with what it is Dextera has said. ]

That what you want? To waste away watching the past? [ It's the same tone as before — quiet, thoughtful, a genuine question because he doesn't understand this at all. ] I dunno if that's the same. I'd never go back to it.

[ A beat, a small shrug. ]

Guess I can't answer you there.

[ And maybe Dextera will never be able to provide any answers for him, either — maybe this is their impasse being spelled out loud and clear, a gap too wide to ever be bridged, two worldviews so thoroughly incompatible that they'll be stuck at this point forever.

Even though they're both Exalts, and that thought gives Amos pause, before he asks, ] Is that what your people would want for you?

[ Is it? He lives his entire life for his people. Is Dextera not the same even there? ]