He laughs, and it's a bitter thing, older than his years — something his body learned before his might earned.

"It's everyone's worry. No one's spared." Not one man, strong or rich, not one woman, bright or fair. His water tastes bitterer when he tries it again, warmth swelling his lips. "The House... I've never been."

To start there, while he negotiates back his senses, and lines up his thoughts, collapsing back in his chair. "They don't take you, unless... you don't come back. Although, they who take you come back, so I suppose — I expect. I suppose it's not all that true that... no one's seen it. Someone's had to have seen it, if we know it exists."

It seems so sensible, and so painfully, reassuringly tangential. "That's where they give you to brother Sanwon. That's where you go, and you don't return."