"Is that so?" And yet he's not even truly asking her. The full of his attention is now focused on the child, who is still regarding him solemnly, reaching up for his chin...

And then Albinius breaks into a smile, the kind that only young children can manage simple and guileless and somehow wise.

"Will you grow to love might and power, I wonder?" he murmurs, half to himself. "Or will you bear greatest love for freedom, whatever the cost?"