So that's Rose's story. He files it away; it's still not his business, until something makes it so. Nodding, he replies, "Perhaps I should have remembered what small communities are like. Then again, if I had, we wouldn't be having this pleasant conversation."

He picks his ikura back up in his chopsticks. Countless little orange spheres, all thinking they're unique in the world, if they think at all. "You say you're prepared to help. I don't mind telling you, I've been to the Palace. It's big, and it's intense. More than anything I've seen."