“Do they?”
“No.”
She paused.
“Not more than anyone else.”
The answer settled.
Eliane nodded.
“What do Peshtulans misunderstand about the Passage?”
Kimia smiled slightly.
“Zhat people in zhe center are soft.”
“Are they?”
Kimia thought of Ivenmoth officials.
Administrators. Engineers. Soldiers. Workers. The Passage's immense machinery.
“No.”
“Why does that misconception persist?”
“Because zhey're comfortable.”
Eliane smiled.
“And comfort looks like softness?”
“To people who pride zhemselves on hardship, yes.”
“Do you?”
“Pride myself on hardship?”
“Yes.”
Kimia looked toward the camera for the first time intentionally.
The red light glowed.
Millions later.
Not now.
She looked back to Eliane.
“No.”
The answer surprised the interviewer.
Kimia continued.
“Hardship is not inherently virtuous. Sometimes it just hurts people.”
The room became quiet.
Kimia felt something inside her tighten.
Then release.
She had meant it.
“Peshtul has endured a lot,” she said. “Zhat's worth respecting. But endurance is not zhe same thing as goodness. A country should not try to remain miserable so it can continue admiring itself for surviving misery.”
Eliane did not interrupt.
Kimia could feel Tarkhe watching.
Kalgkur too.
The interviewer asked: “Is that how you understand your own role? Making Peshtul less dependent on endurance?”
Kimia almost answered immediately.
Stopped.
That was too good a question.
She disliked good questions.
“Yes.”
Then: “I suppose.”
Eliane smiled.
“You sound uncertain.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
Because I am barely holding myself together. Because yesterday I sweated whiteblood onto plastic so I could stop feeling. Because I am sitting here discussing civic endurance while using chemicals to endure myself.
Kimia held the thought.
The mask did not crack, yet she did not want to lie entirely.
“Because rulers are very good at imagining zhey're doing more good zhan they are.”
Eliane's face changed.
Interest.
Kimia continued.
“I sign zhings. I approve budgets. I appoint people. Sometimes somezhing improves. Sometimes it would have improved anyway. You should be suspicious of anyone who claims personal ownership over every good outcome in a system containing zhousands of people.”
Kalgkur's eyes turned fully toward her.
Kimia ignored him.
Eliane asked: “Do you feel ownership over failures?”
The question struck differently.
Kimia's ears shifted.
“Yes.”
Too quick.
Eliane noticed.
Kimia noticed her noticing.
“More than successes?”
Kimia could have lied.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kimia smiled faintly.
“Perhaps zhat's a question for Tarkhe.”
The crew laughed.
Tarkhe did not.
Eliane looked toward him.
“Your physician?”
“Yes.”
“Would he answer?”
“No.”
“Good doctor.”
“Unfortunately.”
The conversation moved away before the answer became dangerous.
Good.
The final portion concerned Tilmuhl.
Of course.
Eliane framed it carefully.
“House Chityala has limited direct interests in Tilmuhl compared with House Ivenmoth, but you participate in the wider political institutions responsible for Heart policy. How closely do you follow events there?”
“Closely.”
“Why?”
“Because if somezhing breaks badly enough, zhe distinction between direct and indirect interest stops mattering.”
Eliane nodded.
“What worries you most?”