"I see," Mindy said quietly. "Actually, in that way, maybe you're braver than me. I always had a fear of what would happen to me if I ever got taken alive. You know how some really, really vicious men are. When they want to beat you, they want to do it full, complete. And I hurt enough of their guys for them to want that. That's why I learned how to fight, with my dying breath."

But she did feel bad for Eponine. She'd heard people who hated her, who called her selfish. Well no wonder. Eponine, like her, was a product of her environment. It didn't forgive everything, it just explained it.

"I'm not used to comfort. If anything, that'll be new. I just want to make things better for other people. Like, my District."