what’s right?” he heard Annyka say from behind him. “It’s their choice to stay. If they die, they’ve only themselves to blame.”

He turned back around—she was still looking out towards the sunrise—and smiled wryly at the back of her head.

“Always so fatally realistic,” he thought, and then he asked, “Have you been to see the gateway?”

“Why?” she asked, without looking back at him.

“It’s incredible. You’d like it.”

“Not interested,” she replied.

His smile widened.

“You once asked me how my people discovered the Aether,” he said. “And I probably should have asked you this a long time ago, but how did your people discover it?”

...

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