Ha. Not mine. [Miles snorts.] Whenever I fell as a child, I broke several bones, courtesy of my unique physiology. He'd have preferred if I stayed down. No, it's what I tell myself. [He is always, if nothing else, frightfully self-determined.

But he's not so self-centered as all that. He catches a note of sorrow to her, maybe fabricated in his mind, but he responds to it anyway.] Why not? [he asks reasonably.] You seem an intelligent, capable girl. Why shouldn't you expect things of yourself-- expect greatness?