''Location:'' Between Consciousness and Void
---
"Elara, stop talking like a machine."
The voice came from above—clear, feminine, and carrying an edge that made even the white void feel sharper.
Elara paused mid-sentence, her clinical assessment of the space dying on her lips.
"Because right now," the voice continued, almost conversational, "there is no audience for you to perform for."
Elara's expression didn't change. "Define audience."
Laughter rippled through the white space—genuine, delighted laughter that echoed from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Ha ha ha! You humans are really interesting things. I can never understand you, even after all these years." The voice took on a knowing tone, almost teasing. "You, Elara—acting like you cannot understand emotion, cannot feel emotion, cannot process emotion. You talk like a machine. Blah, blah, blah. Is that because you want people to know you are not the earlier Elara?"
Elara went completely still.
