[He predictably laughs.] Well, it was she who wanted it to be long enough to count as a - proper expedition. [The remaining smile now dimming back into a bland serious face.] I think it's fair to say that most of the time, if you're concerned with her whereabouts, you can take it on faith that you'll be concerning yourself with mine as well.

[Shrug now. He doesn't have to lace that with anything else.] Properly - properly meaning that there is a functional leadership structure. The most obvious is a strong and single leader, the way most social structures have been unified throughout history. Granted, there are significant losses associated with it, but having a single lord makes for the most streamlined progress in a limited time frame. And obviously, ours was limited more than we could hope. Instead, here we were allowed to go our own ways, most of the time expressing resentment against the power structure, such as it is.