The words of the ringleader couldn't have been better-picked to sting. While her own existence was less of a bone of contention with herself as it had been a year and a half ago, it still hurt when hit the right way. Like it was now.

She hadn't been meaning to speak, but the words seem to come unbidden.

"He's right," she said, loudly enough to be heard, her good hand clenching tight into a fist, "We didn't ask for any of this. We didn't ask to be chosen to come here, or be given what we were." By the government or by Philemon. "We never asked for any of that!"

She hadn't asked to exist, with all the problems her life had caused. But here she was, and if there was one thing she had learned at the very least, it was that disappearing didn't help anyone.