All soldiers makes sense, but it sounds kind of lonely, the way Sonia says it. It doesn't sound like she knows what happened to any of them. Beth's were boyfriends, at least--she'd gotten to know them, even if they'd died.

I hope they are, she wants to say, but she doesn't want to linger on the subject if Sonia doesn't. And it doesn't sound like Sonia does.

Beth takes a bigger sip this time. After that duet with Byerly, she's sung to audiences on multiple planets now. She's too curious to take her turn right away, though, asking, "Do you like singing?"