I was not as sure of that as Ince and not sure of Ince's sight here for surely it was colored though I thought with reason. "If she has not then why were you the only 1? You are not physically or mentally impaired, you are not diseased nor are your genes a threat to us." I gave no sign I had been terribly clumsy though it pierced my heart and I was furious with myself as I saw my words recalled Prescott to her. She assumed that fault since Vettra's 5 other children were admirable in every way.
        I went on quickly, "You are a rider and your talents in that direction would have been known early, probably at your birth, but most accept riders and not a few are proud to count them among their offspring. You are different," I struggled to express my thoughts while not speaking in a way which Ince, bared and distressed at this time, would misunderstand. I would not press her where she was tender. "But you are also very needed. Essential. Riders mark a difference in their progenitors' genes but it is not a slur, a lessening or defect. Or a weakness," I added, remembering this Progenitor's strength.
        And seeing again that strong face which was also very skilled and intelligent I felt myself tremble in the heart of me at what might have been if Ince had not been salvaged by Vryyh but had been 1 of the few culled strong enough, clever enough, to survive.
        I believed Ince was strong enough and clever enough. She was the strongest person I had ever met including other riders, with the swiftest, sleekest mind, and if she had survived to become a culled uneducated rider the fury of her could have destroyed portions of the planet. I knew that; I saw that, literally.
       A rogue rider driven by hatred could disrupt demarcation lines everywhere. Blast them out across the allotments or into the planet's heart. The destruction would have been phenomenal, even unrepairable, by the time the service had mobilized its riders to surround and obliterate her. A fearsome cold dread clutched me as this realization took my mind with a slicing certainty.