[ Katherine reads the tone, brows rising, corners of her lips pursing in just so; she definitely isn't kidding about any of it, as they can both tell, head nodding faintly to the side. She's always been a speaker of what's on her mind and while she's careful to follow rules about not discussing her own past, she doesn't entirely register how off the confidence in her tone could sound.

Her brows lift again. ] There's plenty of meanings to spending time away too, isn't there? [ She ran for most of her life, always feeling separated from a life she could've had. Being away from it. Running, but never fully living. ] You're welcome. [ A beat. ] I didn't know we had any military here, but...I guess everywhere needs a little bit of that. [ As if they weren't yanked up from different worlds or anything. ]