"...I don't know this to be therapeutically relevant but I'm having trouble forming a picture of the - tortured slave army thing, which also involves that being possible."

"Well, Detlev wasn't being tortured at that point. He 'broke' early on and pretended to become their willing servant."

"And accounted for you?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what you've done to reconcile with these experiences so far?"

He smiles. "I do what I can to better the human project—translations, histories—knowing that it erases neither what I have done nor what was done to me, but that it is important work nonetheless. I find myself especially drawn to help suffering children, when I can."

"You were - deployed - do you have any more specific interaction or lack thereof with people you affected?"

"The victims of my worst acts have been dead for centuries or more. Today I am known the world over as the villainous Norsundrian who enchanted humanity into a waking sleep for a year. In this way I've 'personally affected' everyone over the age of thirty-three, several of whom I interact with in my daily life. One of whom I've married."

"A... waking sleep?"

"They went through the motions of their lives, staying fed and healthy, but without emotion or awareness. Many experienced the end of the spell as waking up from a strange dream."

"Okay. Does that reputation affect you a lot day to day?"

"No. I'm surrounded by people who trust me, and not many strangers know my face."

"Okay. It seems like the work you've done so far is serving you really well. That understood, for demonstration and practice purposes, what do you want me to add to that today?"