Alexa leans back, stares up at the Rift, and lets her fingers work the thoughts out.

"You are wrong about the land of the dead, you know."

It's hard to directly deny the dog. Hard to look into those eyes, and tell them that hope is still out there.

"You say it is ashes and ruins, that the gods have abandoned us. If I had nothing but the Rift to keep me company, it may be that I would share your opinion. 

"But in the course of a year with this crew, I think I've seen enough to believe otherwise. I have seen worlds and wonders that made me question everything I knew. Things I hadn't even dreamt of, even before the galaxy was cut in two. 

 "I have seen the gods intimately involved with every member of this crew, for better or worse. They show on this side, just as surely as they do on the other. They care, just as surely as they care on the other side of the rift.

"And, perhaps most important to me, is that there are plenty of people I've come to care for on this side of the rift. It's not all ashes and ruin. There is wonder and life to be found here."

She considers again, words expended, before admitting, "[i]Where,[/i] on this side of the rift, though. That's a harder question."

"After all, following is the close to the only thing I've ever known. Where Molech went, I followed. When he needed me to go into battle, I followed his orders. The only way I found to break free from him was to attach myself to someone else. Even here, at the end of everything, I followed someone else's dreams, someone else's plans."

"And now I'm off the guiderails. I'm so used to being penned in by what someone else wants me to be that the freedom to choose a heading is… Well, it's terrifying. I can go anywhere.

"Half the universe is open to me. Pick a heading, Alexa. Where, in half of all the galaxy's nigh-infinite wonders, do you go?

She shakes her head, chuckling ruefully.

"So if you've asked me where else you could go, I think I have to turn the question on you. Where else do you [i]want[/i] to go? You have all the worlds to choose from. Is there no other world where you want to go? No other world with people you care for?"