I have failed you, even though I did my best. I'm so sorry, even though I could do no better. I ran the race as hard as I could, threw everything I could behind this one goal, and it wasn't enough. I made all the right choices, could have made no other choices even knowing what I do now, would make those same choices again, and there's no world where those choices would be enough.

And you did, too. You ran just as hard as I did. Saying it doesn't change the situation we're in, doesn't magically solve the problems we face. But I saw. I witnessed. I felt the blows. You're amazing, and I could never ask for more than you gave, because you gave it everything.

She could be writing to anyone, our Beljani. Probably wouldn't use those words, exactly, but the emotions are there.

Nero. Hermes. She who ran to save her beloved people, ran as fast as she could, was just in time to see herself fail, just in time to see half the galaxy--half the people she loved--plunged into the afterlife.

Bella. Dear, dear Bella, who worked so hard. You did everything right, and so did I, and I'm so sorry we weren't enough to save each other.

Redana.

Mynx.

Herself, maybe.

"I," she starts, and goes quiet. The battlefield is too quiet, no sound but that of the pheromone-led crowd shuffling over sand.

"I might need a bit of time to actually write it out in my current state. But I know that emotion all too well. I can write it, Beljani."