"Living subjects?"

"Those in my domain who have not yet joined my mock court of the dead." She gestures at the silverware stacker as an example.

"What are you... mock...ing?"

"My own small court is but a shadow of the great courts all of us are from and to which all of us shall return."

"What great courts would these be?"

"That of the Thinker and the Fighter... and I suppose in your case a Lonely Court, adopted only in part."

"What does that mean?"

"Which portion?"

"Who are the Thinker and the Fighter, what is the Lonely Court?"

"The Thinker and the Fighter are the two courts whose play we take part in - the Lonely court merely their distant acquaintance."

"That did not answer my question."

"I am not sure what answer you were looking for then."

"When you say 'court' what are you referring to? What does it mean to take part in it?"

"A collection of fairies performing together. What that means depends very much on the fairy, and on the act of the play."

"And 'fairy' here means...?"

"The things I collect and that so-called capes are gifted with."

"...also known as powers?"

"I suppose."

"And by 'performing together' do you mean... the heroes and villains thing, or... something else...?"

"That is but a small part of the greater performance."

"What's the greater performance, then?"

"I suppose one can say it started with the first fairy gifted and will end in three hundred years hence, as we all depart for new stages."

"...with what content, to what end."

"To improve on past performances, and to find one that need not end."

"Improve along what axis?"