Once he might have flinched from contact he hadn't initiated, but he had come a long ways since those days. He smiled gratefully at the sympathy, but her advice was sound enough that he chuckled quietly. "I suspect it's a nightmare like Loren saw, not a true vision anyways," he decided with a slight shrug. "Though it might indicate my going to the dragon mountains, too..." He shrugged again, this time ruefully. "It could mean many things. I'll not let it worry me overmuch though, if you can promise the same for your mysterious furry-faced watcher."
He listened to her more in-depth explanation of her vision, nodding slowly in understanding of it. It made a little sense, though not a lot, still. Especially if the ravens could still travel between regions to carry messages somehow, as Neron had told him they did. "Have you already seen all there is to see, learned all there is to know, about the Greatwood and Halo and Torchline already?" he asked her teasingly. "I think there are plenty within the Hollowed Grounds who will never leave it. Quanil's family, many of the farmers... even Rory," he admitted with a quiet sigh. "He went to the Greatwood a few times but something terrible happened each time and he's been keeping mostly to the farm and his hunting ever since." Not everyone was unhappy with their lives, after all.
"As for me?" His smile was wry and pained as he began to wring the water from his hair. "Curiosity is in my nature. Of course I want to see more. And I'm opportunistic enough to take advantage of what's already been opened, even if I feel guilty about doing it. But... I have to consider whether my curiosity is more important, is worth more, than the lives of those who may get dragged into another war that seems to be brewing between the old gods and the new. Where the Ascended go, where they spread their worship of the Voice and recruit more soldiers to her cause to empower her with faith and worship, the conflict that has been contained to the Hollowed Grounds will follow." He could be a proper self-centered bastard at times, but dragging a world to war because of his own wandering feet? That was a bit much, even for him.
He'd always strain against the bars, of course. He'd never be content with being caged. But his lips quirked into a wry smile as he watched Maea, she who spoke for all people so easily. "And what will you do if all the storms fade and all the portals open? If the Voice gets her way, or the Old Gods relent? The world itself is a cage, just a bigger one than the bubble that encased the Hollowed Grounds. Where will you go when there is nothing new left to see on Caido?"
Hearing that Loren was helping to Heal her brought a pleased and satisfied expression to the bard's face, and he nodded gladly at the news. "You certainly look more robust," he teased. "I'm glad the illness is finally in remission!"
He listened to her more in-depth explanation of her vision, nodding slowly in understanding of it. It made a little sense, though not a lot, still. Especially if the ravens could still travel between regions to carry messages somehow, as Neron had told him they did. "Have you already seen all there is to see, learned all there is to know, about the Greatwood and Halo and Torchline already?" he asked her teasingly. "I think there are plenty within the Hollowed Grounds who will never leave it. Quanil's family, many of the farmers... even Rory," he admitted with a quiet sigh. "He went to the Greatwood a few times but something terrible happened each time and he's been keeping mostly to the farm and his hunting ever since." Not everyone was unhappy with their lives, after all.
"As for me?" His smile was wry and pained as he began to wring the water from his hair. "Curiosity is in my nature. Of course I want to see more. And I'm opportunistic enough to take advantage of what's already been opened, even if I feel guilty about doing it. But... I have to consider whether my curiosity is more important, is worth more, than the lives of those who may get dragged into another war that seems to be brewing between the old gods and the new. Where the Ascended go, where they spread their worship of the Voice and recruit more soldiers to her cause to empower her with faith and worship, the conflict that has been contained to the Hollowed Grounds will follow." He could be a proper self-centered bastard at times, but dragging a world to war because of his own wandering feet? That was a bit much, even for him.
He'd always strain against the bars, of course. He'd never be content with being caged. But his lips quirked into a wry smile as he watched Maea, she who spoke for all people so easily. "And what will you do if all the storms fade and all the portals open? If the Voice gets her way, or the Old Gods relent? The world itself is a cage, just a bigger one than the bubble that encased the Hollowed Grounds. Where will you go when there is nothing new left to see on Caido?"
Hearing that Loren was helping to Heal her brought a pleased and satisfied expression to the bard's face, and he nodded gladly at the news. "You certainly look more robust," he teased. "I'm glad the illness is finally in remission!"
