[Nope, those are tears. So much for not crying.]

Ales, you're making people suffer here! Not just me...

[A sniffle, and her fists are still clenched.]

It's...it's hard. Life and death...they need each other. What I have hated most of all in this world though, being here...was the endlessness to it. The stillness, and stagnation. I can deal with people dying--I could see them again.

[So quiet there, half to herself.]

You're my friend--you've always been my friend, Ales. But this is not the right course. Not with Kalki...