As uncomfortable as this conversation is, it’s also offering some valuable insight, and neatly dovetails with what Gwenaëlle had mentioned about Vanya. That he’d already left the Order long before quitting, and therefore already started walking down that road.

It’s all a topic that Strange circles often and which keeps cropping up with Mobius, with Gwenaëlle, even those brief awkward check-ins with the other templars. Vanya laying out that reasoning is so familiar, in fact — words echoed in another mouth — that it speaks to the very point Vanya’s making.

The lessons drummed into you, the message swallowed. Your worth. Your worth intrinsically tied to your value as a templar. How do you unwire that.

Strange has settled back in his chair, thoughtful. “That’s the same thing I’ve been hearing. That those abilities are supposedly too crucial to give up, that they want to be of the most use in the war no matter the personal cost to themselves. And god knows I might know what that’s like; I so hated losing my abilities and feeling useless that I bankrupted myself and went halfway around the world and threw it all out the window in an attempt to get it back. So. Probably it’s a tall order, asking your fellows to give up what they know.”

Good thing the doctor never flinches from tall orders —