That was a lot of names now that Tony was definitely not going to remember, so he gave Lark an open-mouthed stare until eventually he accepted, "Uh-huh," not sure what else he was expecting. The water was probably hot by now anyway. He took it from the fire to finish preparing Lark's drink, only hissing 'ah, ow' a few times as he handled the boiling water, and could finally approach her with a cup of tea that he had been assured was digestible by the kind of people who drank it.

"We don't really do that. Anymore," he tried to explain his unbalance, hand teetering because he wasn't sure how apt the comparisons he had were. "States founded on religions. There's certainly a lot of religious influence in a lot of them, but it gets people all riled up to come out and say that. Outwardly, the declaration is always, of course everyone is welcome, diversity is great, and that stops other places who are pretending the same thing from jumping down their throats." That didn't sound like a great explanation now that he said it, not one that seemed to map easily onto the political landscape Lark was trying to tell him about, but the point was: "Earth, fire and water or whatever--you're not fighting over anything?"