A small percentage of progress, [ Root murmurs, rolling her eyes with a smile, without cheer in her eyes ] but progress nonetheless.

[ Wry at best, just shy of self-deprecating. This whole thing sucks, but wanting to go back home isn't enough, or else she'd be back by now. No, she has actual work to do, and that means looking into the locked rooms in her mind where she keeps the scary things, the hardest truths, the most unsettling memories.

Ugh. ]

I suppose I can start with the question Tim gave me to think about before he disappeared.

[ U G H ]