"It is not that," she said with a faint shrug. She wasn't certain what it was, honestly. "I have dated. I am not..." She was about to say 'not a virgin' but decided not to, uncertain precisely why.

"I have spent most of my life fighting. Love has never mattered." It wasn't precisely true, but it was close. "And in the city I have had other priorities." She always had a reason not to do something.