There is no easy answer to that question, Aeriel thinks; least of all to the last question, the one he cannot ask, one she should not answer if she is diplomatic but her twin is the politician, not she. She knows what it is to lose herself in her work, but while she tends to work alone, she does not make a habit of sending others away. Roshka knows when to leave her to it, and when to break her attention; Eoduin sometimes distracts her when she would rather focus, but Aeriel has come to accept the occasional interruption, she is fond enough of the other girl.

"From time to time," she says carefully, not because she is trying to be careful but because it takes a moment to put her sense of it into words, "you need to surface, or you drown."