"...You're very fortunate," reiterates Ecks. "The gods of my world take very...active roles. They killed the last pantheon."

She tilts her head at him, reaching up to brush her ragged hair out from in front of her eyes in the most human gesture she's yet displayed. "Do people still kill each other if there aren't gods to tell them to?" she asks. "Do the godless people try to be good? I try to be good. It's more complicated than I thought it would be, but maybe it's simpler without gods."