Foreknowledge or not the impression was still quite funny, especially with how thoroughly invested Bert seemed in portraying it. She could have told him that she understood all of that perfectly well, that the problem wasn't necessarily in the definitions themselves, rather in dealing with a woman who refused to accept such rules in the first place.

"An-tet implies some transparency, some amount of honesty, and that's the last thing we have between one another." And for so many reasons she quickly moved on from that lovely comment. "In any case, I know it isn't at all simple but I suppose if you think she might tell you the truth, then you should ask her what she thinks of all that. You'll see what I mean, then." Right now she wouldn't be able to explain, and maybe couldn't even in a normal state because she ultimately agreed. People who had spent their lives alone or feeling isolated - even if they were part of a grand, intricate scheme - would never fully integrate into a group no matter what the omniscient force happened to be. Nariko had long convinced herself that she would always be second to Roland, and so by default she had already closed a large part of herself off from Roland. Kaine found a loophole from her fate, from her own pain, but she was still unable to connect with anyone in any meaningful way.

Really, it was all an obnoxious mess. "Anyway. Ducks."