[ The turnabout takes Matt by surprise. He brightens, though he feels a simultaneous sinking guilt. Maybe he shouldn't have tried to convince Liem at all, so he wouldn't've felt like he had to say yes?

An emotional quandary for a time with fewer zombies, Matt decides. For now, he strives to keep things simple: He nods, and moves to follow Liem down the hall. ]

This might sound kind of strange, [ he hedges. ] But I think I'm looking for the Advocate. [ He steals a glance at Liem to try and gauge whether he does, in fact, find it strange. ] I tried talking to them before--I mean, I tried asking them things, not just giving answers. But they weren't really amenable. And they were really hard to get a read on, magically speaking. But if these worlds are their creation, in some sense ... their dreams ... then there must be some thread of them in here. And maybe helping people is the way to find that thread, or pull on it.