[Viktor makes an affirmative noise in the back of his throat and nods. He's heard this from Kell, but doesn't necessarily want to indicate that they've spoken about it. He's still not sure if Rhy would accept any attempts at offering him relief, during the Dimming.

But the Free Cities is something he can speak on. He shakes his head.]

It's posturing. The Free Cities government wants to position itself as everything Thorne is not, but I don't believe they intend to destroy it. Nor could they, even if they wanted to. What the Free Cities wants is to be reliant on technology, rather than magic.

[That is not to say there is no danger. More militant citizens perhaps truly believe that the Singularity should be destroyed, but Viktor thinks Reiner is too smart for that.]