"Well-put," Claudius says with a small, appreciative smile. "I've been an unsuccessful soldier, and a successful mediator, but many times my mediation was only to move the folding screen. Whatever hid behind was still waiting, but it was all I knew how to do. I'd rather learn another way." He hesitates to say more, to break even this fragile peace, this shared hope spoken out loud. "That's my other concern, I suppose. I told you I had one or two. I don't wish to go back to what I was before ... or be forced back."