"Once," she says, and the first word's intonation is altered only slightly by the backstepping dodge his lashing cane forces her to employ, "I believed I would do anything to assist you. I have since discovered--" his starboard quarter turn ends in a decisive meeting with Carapace's shield this time, and Shadowmoth-who-was all but reels, unbalanced, as he reverses his steps to face her, only to meet her upraised and sweeping fan, "--that I am in possession of certain limits after all. This is not atonement, Hawkmoth; it's reconfiguration."