"Well, the two often go together," she said with a slight dip of her head. "That's why we balance out bravery with the other virtues. At least, in theory."

Admittedly, most of the people she knew tended to favor one over the others.

She even knew herself well enough to know that she was much braver than she was wise or strong.

"Something like that," she replied.

Aside from Orpheus, she hadn't really broached the topic of religion with anyone else in the multiverse. People got touchy about it. And some people wanted to be private about it.

As for Ariadne herself, she often wondered if her prayers could travel through the fabric separating worlds, to reach her gods. She liked to think so, but there was some doubt there as well.

All that to say, it sort of felt nice to talk about. Like she'd been holding part of herself back for a while. "I try to think about each virtue, before I do something. But life happens very fast sometimes. It makes me a poor student."

"Well, here it definitely is."

Every month seemed to hold a new surprise. She was getting a little nervous as October approached. In Deerington, that had always been the worst of the worst. She was hoping for something better now. Trench had a gentleness that Deerington lacked.

But who knew?

Her skill with probability didn't work in the multiverse. She'd learned that the hard way.

"You know," she said thoughtfully. "You're a lot like your uncle. You're very kind."