[Another long silence allows Nel to try to gather her thoughts. Nearly destroyed by a man who'd created everything, everyone, they'd known. Created to be entertainment... It wasn't an easy concept for her to grasp right away.

And it gave her a rip-roaring headache. And that certainly felt real enough.]

I'm not sure what you want me to say to that, Fayt. You say that it happens in my future, as if there's no other way for things to go than the way you've lived through.

[She held up a hand, preemptively, to keep him from saying anything while she spoke her muddled thoughts aloud.]

You're not the type of person to exaggerate or make claims that you can't back up—a detail that I'm grateful for—but you'll have to forgive me when I say that it's going to take a while for all of this to sink in.