"No, as long as you don't try to enforce it on anyone else I don't think anyone minds what you call yourself," Jigano agreed easily. "I prefer to use the term 'mage' for those who can use magic. It is... less fraught with historical baggage here." He shrugged lightly, but the next batch of questions that Abasi had asked startled him and raised invisible hackles.
He quickly reviewed the conversation they'd had so far, but they'd focused almost entirely on magic users, and spoken only briefly about Ascended. Even then, he'd represented their goddess with more respect than usual, acknowledging her strength and stating her history as he knew it, without much personal embellishment. He'd mentioned the enmity of the old gods towards the new, but hadn't spoken of his own affiliations - though he had openly displayed magic, marking him as another of the Abandoned alongside Abasi. Why the other man would think he was an enemy of the Ascended or had killed them... it left him baffled and no little angry, though he didn't let it show on the surface. The man was quicker to jump to conclusions than Sam!
"What makes you think I don't empathize with them?" he asked mildly. "You're the only one to have brought up violence so far, given that the last war here was centuries and generations ago. It's true that the Old Gods are less fond of Ascended than even they are of Abandoned, but even so they have made no direct move to harm them." He was very interested indeed to hear where Abasi had gotten that idea.
He quickly reviewed the conversation they'd had so far, but they'd focused almost entirely on magic users, and spoken only briefly about Ascended. Even then, he'd represented their goddess with more respect than usual, acknowledging her strength and stating her history as he knew it, without much personal embellishment. He'd mentioned the enmity of the old gods towards the new, but hadn't spoken of his own affiliations - though he had openly displayed magic, marking him as another of the Abandoned alongside Abasi. Why the other man would think he was an enemy of the Ascended or had killed them... it left him baffled and no little angry, though he didn't let it show on the surface. The man was quicker to jump to conclusions than Sam!
"What makes you think I don't empathize with them?" he asked mildly. "You're the only one to have brought up violence so far, given that the last war here was centuries and generations ago. It's true that the Old Gods are less fond of Ascended than even they are of Abandoned, but even so they have made no direct move to harm them." He was very interested indeed to hear where Abasi had gotten that idea.
