"Maybe? That doesn't mean you should talk about it."

"What else am I supposed to do?"

"You're a Hamilton fan, right? What's Burr say to Hamilton?"

That earns a round of giggles. "Talk less, smile more. Okay, okay, I get your point. I'd rather be Hamilton than Burr, though."

"Burr lived longer."

"Sure. But Hamilton got on the ten dollar note, right? ...I guess I don't know if Burr got on any money. I don't think he did. And Hamilton got the musical named after him."

"Sentences like that are why I think you're going to fail and die."

"So you do think I'm going to fail and die. I fucking told you so."

"I didn't disagree with you, I just think--" Sigh. "You don't get how power works, and you're either going to learn or it's going to kill you. I'm hoping for the former but I'm not betting on it."

"How does power work, then?"

"You think you can just--get people to agree to work together. But that's not how it works. You need power for that, you need to be able to, like... enforce it. People don't want to work together. Enclaves stick together, but the politics of them, it's not smooth sailing, you know? And that's with leaders, with adults outside the scholomance, with wealth and mana and the knowledge that they'll probably live. You're just coasting on good will and pity. I think it's gonna run out, and when that happens, you're gonna be fucked. For what you're doing, you need power, and right now, Wilbur, you don't have any.

You asked me why I stick around you. I guess it's because I want to be proved wrong."

"Huh.

I'll do my best, then."