[All right, why is it?]

[If "ruled by all-encompassing mind control" is how Aelise ultimately prefers her world, then I disavow identity with her and I bet the rest of my template does too,] says Lizzie. [I'm going on the assumption that she wants to get rid of Chelsa, but has what she considers a good reason not to, and I would probably more or less agree with her that it's a good reason if I knew what it was. What I want to do is find out what that reason is and then find a way around it. I cannot ally with Aelise against Bella because my entire stake in this is that I want to bring Aelise's interests and Bella's interests into alignment. A world ruled by one of me could be a place Bella would love, if we got around whatever problem made her include Chelsa in the first place.]

[What about a scenario where the problem can be fixed, but only to a point, such that Mama would rather go through with it and be rid of Chelsa and Aelise would rather stick with what she's got? Since we don't know what the problem is, it's not impossible.]

[Then who I tried to convince would depend on who I agreed with. But I will go on record as saying that I think it's premature to think of Bella and Aelise as already being in conflict.]

[I don't think Mama's going to like her.]

[I don't think so either, but there is a wide range of possibilities between 'best friends' and 'open war', and I want to avoid tending toward the second extreme.]

[For that matter, I don't think I'm going to like her,] Elspeth goes on quietly. [You may have to do most of the talking.]