No, Sveta, not home! [oops, temper. He leveled his tone again. I told you... I told you you wouldn't have to do that. I'm trying to find a way around it, trying to find another option, I promise you, and I'm sure it's going to work.

[He grimaced at that,] Of course there is, Sveta. Humans are like that, but the... point is finding the light in the darkness, and clinging to it like mad. Sometimes it slips away from you, but you can find it again, and hold on to it so much tighter. I am the light of the world, remember. Even in the darkest places, there is light.

[He was talking in more a religious sense than a her-world sense, but he figured they weren't far apart.]