Not at all. I apologise if it came across that way. [ Trahearne's brows raise a bit--he didn't mean it like that. He doesn't mean to call her ungrateful at all. Beatrix would not have reached out if she were, would she? She clearly needed company, and she would have solved that problem elsewhere if she were.

He shakes his head. ]

But if you're anything like me, [ she does, in fact, strike him a bit like Phantom and Eustace, and the three of them are very similar ] then you may find you choose to remove yourself in certain circumstances instead of finding support. I admit...I am rather guilty of this myself, but I am trying. Perhaps my advice is not all that convincing, in that case.

[ He remembers the last day he saw Riannoc. Wynne. Riannoc, especially--the news of his death had been so devastating for a people so young and ready to embrace life. Though he lives on in their memory, he never got to live. He wonders what Caithe thought and felt as she watched the commander strike him down. He wonders if she saw Faolain, in the end. He hopes, sincerely, she's not had to watch any of the others fall since then. ]

But once that connection is gone...it never comes back.

[ He has heard tell of some people leaving and then reawakening in Songerein. But who's to tell that will always happen? Or that will apply to any of them in the future?

And to that end, ]

I am grateful you came to see me, Beatrix. As strange as it sounds, I'm glad we shared this experience.