“Reluctantly a leader, regretfully a follower. I’ve come to learn that being too supportive of the wrong type of leader doesn’t actually do any good, and it is very hard, once you’ve seen how it is to be misled, to follow someone else’s lead with as much trust as you once did.”

“Awww, Softhair Prettything very good peopleperson. Pox think that and Pox very good about thinking right about peoplepersons Pox meets. Only Pox not know very many actually and Spikehair Bigsword not very good peopleperson actually but Pox met Softhair Prettything right after so all good now!”

“You know, Alastrina, while Pox might not know a lot of people, I do, and one thing I can say is that most people only look to see what they want to see on the outside of you. I think you see us a lot more than you let on you do, and evidently you see something in us that means we’re cut out for the team. Even Flonk, apparently!”

“Well, that’s about as much of a solid endorsement as I could ever have hoped to hear in my earholes. Thanks, human.”

“Oh, and yeah, Alastrina, you’re not so bad. I’ve served under worse. Way worse. Really, anything would have been an improvement.”

“Flonk, you were working for The Big Bad. I don’t think that’s all that nice of a compliment.”

“You kidding? I’ve gone from Surely To Die all the way up to Surprisingly Alive. Huge win in my book. Also, you picked me first, ahead of all the rest of this lot, so you make some very strong choices. That tracks as a good leader, right?”

“Nastybad Bounceworm so bad and worst first choice. Pox so much nicer and cleverer.”

“Flonk is a little rough around the edges, Pox, but I know he means well. I understand that he was treated like.. well, something not worthy of him. Deep down, though, I know that resentment is fuel for something greater.”

“See, that’s what I mean.”

“Yeah yeah, don’t go telling the whole world. Then they’ll want to add a flamoggat of their own to their teams and really, that wouldn’t be fair to anybody else.”