"I know, I know." Istredd shrugs. "I promise it's not on purpose." Ciri knows that by now. He's never been good with people. He has more practice recently because of Thorne and his place with the Summoned, but it doesn't come naturally. He says the right thing more often than the wrong now, but she makes him nervous.

He has picked up on her lashing out, and he's hoping it isn't personal. She didn't stomp off, she's talking instead about what's going on and her feelings about it. That he's more comfortable with.

"The New Gods were like us once, I feel confident about that now. They're the former Summoned, if Umbvagher is implying what I think." This has been a theory of Istredd's for a long time, and frankly, he does enjoy being right, but it doesn't mean it feels right. He liked his fake life so much that he didn't want to wake up out of it. Lucifer had to force him out.

"I think that is our future. And I wouldn't know how to stop it even if I wanted to. The Singularity is far more powerful than any one of us." Ciri's always had a destiny. He has no idea if this was always supposed to be a part of it. "You've been a child of prophecy, I know it's not your preference. I wish there was a way to make this all a choice for us."