It seems pretty horrible to her. Lashan, Vena knows, thinks of battle as something like a series of connections and intersections with other people and the world around them. A lot of those connections are stabbing, of course. She always, whenever Vena's sensed the idea in her, is in some way thinking of protecting someone else, or avenging them. Lashan's own survival is not as important. It's not lonely in the same way, but there's still a sickening exhilaration and chaos to it, and a kind of pride too.

Slowly she says, "But you like it, kind of." Not a kind of liking that Vena quite understands but she can't think of another word. "She likes it too, but... different."

He could replace her, she thinks with a sudden panic, eyes widening. Lashan thinks this man is like her - noticing they have almost the same scar had tipped her over into taking him home with them - and so, what if she ends up liking him better than Vena? Where will she be? "But she's like me."