Gene sighs, and thinks. His shadow test had been a rough one, and he'd nearly failed it.

But coming upon Tolui had been...interesting. He'd felt fear, and despair, and an urge to cry - of course my soul looks like a Makluan - but the ka was different, too, because that wasn't all there was to Gene. He looked like the Mandarin armor, too, and there was still something human to him. And after a moment, he'd felt peace.

"I don't know if I can do this," he admits.