"That I understand." Danil responds, his voice barely above a soft murmur. His lips barely part and he seems fixated on her, wavering between two different choices. She understands it seems. A person like him, suddenly thrown into this world and expected to flounder on, when all bearings were lost. He had been floundering the best he could, but he had the feeling that it was on borrowed time.

"Funny. I am too." The tiny smile that he gives her is bleak. "I didn't know what I was until a year or so ago."

A year since Alla. A year since-He closed his eyes in pain, and forced himself not to think about it.