"Life's not fair," Clarisse says, in the tone of someone who's heard nothing but that her whole life. "You can be pissed about it or just do what needs to be done."

A pause as she takes another drink, makes another face. Her tongue feels mostly numb at this point, though, which is nice. "Anyway, I liked living there. I could do what I wanted and I got to train to be a warrior and kill monsters and win feats of strength and shit."