As she looked up at the sky, the unruly stars whirled, it seemed, in tandem with her own doubts. They tilted, unlocked from the great void, and followed her eye like they thought they might find an answer in it. When she sat up, they all winked out at once—though the night did not get any darker. 

[color=black]Quinnlash[/color] stared back at her, small face wrinkled in confusion, like Quinn had started speaking in Tohoken. 

“[color=black]Because…[/color]” she started, and stopped, and started again with more certainty. “[color=black]Because that’s the way it is. That’s what we do. We’re a pilot. We…[/color]”

She paced back, stood up on the bench and looked out over the water. “[color=black]We should be killing monsters. That’s what we’re made for. That’s our purpose,[/color]” she said. “[color=black]But they won’t let us do that. Now they want us to do [i]this[/i] and…and maybe we don’t have to like killing [i]always[/i], but some people…deserve it. Some people deserve to die. Takers. People like Roaki, people like [i]them[/i].[/color]”

She didn’t need to point it out. That cliff in the distance was still bare. 

“[color=black]They’re monsters. They’ll hurt us, they’ll hurt the people we love. And [i]they[/i]’ll like it. Killing them…we’re doing the right thing. We’re helping. That’s why we should like it. If we don’t like killing monsters, then…what’s the point?[/color]”