"You know that was my first memory?" Alexander asks. "The duel. Before I could walk, I was dreaming about the gunshot. Gunshots." There were two, weren't there?

He'd been too young to understand, for a long time. He doesn't know if this is the reason, but the moments of the duel are all scattered, now. He doesn't know what really happened because he dreamed it so many ways.

"There's always more to lose," Alexander whispers. "Aren't you afraid?" Of me. Of opening up again.