What did you learn in crafting this story?

Yeah, I mean, I learned things at several levels, but in terms of kind of my overall kind of worldview, some really crucial lessons emerged that probably converged with our own historical moment.

And one of them is, well, three things really quickly, Nate, that really just thunderstruck me as I kind of worked through it, and they very emerged for me.

One is that it's okay to have loyalties, but never mistake them for an allegiance.

So you can be loyal to your school, loyal to your family, political brand or whatever.

And a loyalty is a good thing.

A loyalty is a human endorsement of something where I embrace this because I think it's better than that.

What do you hope for readers to take from