"That is the way of it, unfortunately." War didn't really care whether you wanted it or not, it came to your doorstep all the same. They knew that better than some, maybe even in their own ways, better than some of the adults inside.

She nods a little. "Himeka told me about how it was when she first arrived. It was-" like being on a slaver ship. "horrible. I don't want that for people again, either." She thinks of the boy she stabbed during the casket mission, the sharp danger he exuded once she realized he recognized her somehow at the Summit. He seemed like he was completely entrenched in whatever Thorne was spoonfeeding its captives. If– no, when– this gets bad, he'll be a loose cannon, she's sure of it.

"I keep thinking... even though I know he isn't trying to do it, there's a line in all this some people might twist in the wrong way. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and not participating in a war that isn't ours to fight... what if some of the Summoned take this concept and... it becomes us against them, Summoned vs natives..." That is the sort of thing that's likely to get just as nasty as anything the centuries-worth of bad blood between factions could create. And what better way for them to come together than against a common threat?