She nods. "I suppose when you've lived as long as I have, you get good at making plans that take longer and longer to come to fruition. Part of it, for the deities, anyway, is a conservation of energy; since your enemies can retaliate to match the force you use, unless you<em>can</em>wipe out an enemy, the more force you use in the retaliation, especially if you exceed the original insult, only encourages them to strike back to make up the difference. But, if you're willing to take an opponent down, entirely... well, that creates an imbalance of power, as you've now 'spent' a lot... and no one is there to retaliate.<em>That</em>frightens them, because no one is stupid enough to retaliate, now. It's... it's like a poker game, where you and your opponent went all in, and you claimed all his chips, and now, everyone else sees you as an enemy, because you're in the strongest position at the table," She starts to trail off, as she gets to the end of her example, spacing out her words more, and falls silent as she finishes, noticing his hungry gaze, and blushing, covering by taking a longer drink from her wineglass, and somewhat nervously nibbling on her cookie.