"You could say that," he agreed, not without an admission: "though it sounds very sad."

It reminded him, for some reason, of a sunny garden in someone else's memory, Jack asking him if he wanted to become Alice's knight. He'd refused on the basis of being too weak and unable, which is no less true, really; Break had to have been much of able of one, judging by his skill now, but even for him...

Oz took up the pose too, though only for a moment; taking a new strategy now, he lunged after scarcely a beat, feinting a blow to one side before switching the line of his attack.