[ His NEW FRIEND (because Anna has decreed so) certainly has some interesting viewpoints on life in Kenos. It reminds him of his early days in Horos, when he'd been suspicious and questioning of everything.

He finds that he's too tired these days to care much beyond the safety and well-being of those most important to him. ]

You think this is all an elaborate ploy, set up by some greater force? [ A god, a tyrant, whatever. ] Or is that there's some kind of veil being placed over eyes preventing us from seeing things as they really are.

[ Or something else; he's never really been the philosophical type. ]