"It wasn't." It wasn't okay, not by any stretch of the imagination. No one in their right mind would forgive such an action. "I knew. I knew how terrible it was, but I felt nothing. I was following orders. That was all that was required of me."

Press on. Focus. He took another quiet breath before continuing, tonelessly. "When I did question, my partner would...'reassure' is not the correct word. But it made sense. The strong survive, as their right. If they deserved to live, they would be strong enough to stop us."

"I wanted to continue as I had been, to be a soldier. And instead I became a monster. Washington...He had been where I was, but he had taken a different path. Chosen to find his purpose in people, rather than in orders. There was another way, provided I left everything behind."

And he had. A choice he still sometimes questions.

"It's too late to change what I did. But I can do some good here. I think he agrees, as much as it irks him to do so."