[He's focused, attentive, taking in every word and turning the meaning around in his hands to observe from all angles. There's something admirable in this approach, he finds — not exactly the same as his own, which he'll admit even in the privacy of his own head is less coherent, but with the same throughline.]

[Don't give them what they want.]

. . . You're exactly right.

[Of course he is.]

I've never experienced anything exactly like that. [Although what Cioccolata did to Rome doesn't feel terribly far off.] But I understand why people commit acts of cruelty, for the most part. I'm not used to others understanding as well.

[More accurately, he's used to people turning a blind eye for their own safety or benefit. But Ryslig isn't like that, in some ways. It's a place of extremes. Very few are able to stay in the safe middle ground.]

Do you want to? Help those affected, I mean.