[Was she?]

[She closes her eyes and leans forward unconsciously, pulling herself closer to the center of the dance and to Ben. In no way is it intimate - more than anything, trancelike, a way of understanding, a way of touching memory.]

I fought. I . . . led men. I protected . . .

I don't know if I was a soldier. I never had a rank. I was outside of that.

[Above that, technically. The emperor's wife. But she always felt outside.]