"Oh yes, I was the cool uncle too," Jedao says. His tone is light, but his eyes grow sadder with the memory of how that ended. The best news for his family is his sister's disappearance. The only way out of his shadow—out of history.

He blinks it back and smirks at her question. "I'm a Shuos," he says, "My faction has always believed in teaching via games. It's more effective than lecturing, and damn is it a lot more fun. Sure plenty of people hate things being treated like a game, but they can be sore losers."