[She listened intently and took her time considering it all. It really would be so easy to justify some little bend in the 'rules' in a world of non-telepaths. And one bend could lead to another, and then a question as to the logic behind that rule. Absolute power and all that.]

At the beginning... Twelve hundred years ago, it was just a way to communicate with my squad. Like having mental radios linked to a central person, namely myself. I was the second youngest grand general in remembered history and I worked out a way to make more stable and permanent telepathic links that used places rather than people. Then the Corrosion happened. [There's a slight catch and a pause, even now it's difficult to fully pass off that event with a shrug.] I spent a thousand years trying to capture and execute a madman with every advantage over me. That's why my network is different, it had to change or face another Corrosion. Buuuuuut...

[A moment to shake off the weight of the past.] There is a way we can work around full mental contact that would probably make us both more comfortable. It's more like that word game councilors play, where they say a word and the other person says whatever comes to mind first. You could write down a list of words with significance in your world and I would read them off and just watch what comes to the front of your mind.

[And she's totally forgotten his last question, sorry Armin!]