"A hobby." Well, she'd heard of stranger ones. Perhaps he thought of it the same way she thought about riding: freedom, the thrill of a rush. But he didn't elaborate on that part. Elissa shifted her weight onto her back leg and tentatively nodded.

"...You can't. But try telling yourself that." She offered him the smallest glimmers of a smile. "You can pretend, for a little while, that it's possible to leave and that nothing can keep you here." In Highever, she would sometimes run off for an afternoon just to be away from the stuffiness. She'd return that evening, of course, but even an afternoon away from the guards was enough.