Armand is not a teacher. He has never felt the impulse, and teaching is an impulse. A skill, a personality. Maybe Daniel has felt like a tool for it in the past, maybe he hated it completely, maybe something about it drew him in. An empathetic ideal, to pass along the lesson, whether you believe it anymore or not.

But no, Armand has been director, dictator, and for longer than that, a symbol of something, and has he had conviction in those things, even then? Did he ever guide the vampires beneath him, or simply set the terms and wait? How well did he teach Louis anything that wasn't, also, his own way of leveraging an advantage? What did Lestat do with his lessons, but run off with them?

But Daniel is here, listening to him. Daniel is here because Armand put him here. A punishment.

"Directives are useful," he says. "But not everything. Your assistant will obey you because she's your assistant. Your prey will stop, because part of them would like to as well."

A nod—let's cross here. Through the gap in the traffic.

"But we're speaking of selection, not just subdual. I know in the interview, there was some talk of seeking the sin. Weaknesses. I can show you something else."