Jigano sighed, starting to feel guilty again for pushing the boy but--
No. Not this time.
But that didn't mean he had to be cruel about things, either. "So he asked for a memory but didn't offer you anything in return until afterwards?" Jigano tried to clarify, but kept his voice gentle. "Remi... If you can't remember the memory he took, how do you know he took only the one you chose?" One hand fluttered in a shrug, fingers flexing as if to close on something and then release it to the sky. "The paradox of trying to remember a memory that is gone..." There were few things the bard hated more than mind-meddling. As soon as he'd had the strength and knowledge to do so he'd girded his mind from intrusion, spending his limited magic ruthlessly to keep his thoughts secret. He'd refused to learn spells of telepathy, even though they would have helped his friends and their mission greatly, for just such reason.
"And, no matter how painful... those events, those memories, make you who are you. How you carry them, whether you accept them, or confront them... or run away from them... define the kind of person you are. The kind of person you want to be." Jigano shook his head, eyes flickering bleakly for a moment before he drew in a breath and reached across the table to tap the book in front of his companion. Mention of the barrier teased at him, taunting with the nearness to his earlier research but... first things first.
"You should just?" he prompted, brow raised. "Gods most fortunate, Remi! You should 'just' learn from what has passed, and approach the world with a little more caution! A lamb in the woods might survive on luck alone to become a ram one day, but it's not likely if he doesn't learn to recognize the wolves." Sitting back, the older man sighed, caressing the edge of the book he held to help center and calm himself. "I should introduce you to my friend Samuel. Perhaps the two of you would get on well together... And he, at least, won't try to trick or steal from you."
No. Not this time.
But that didn't mean he had to be cruel about things, either. "So he asked for a memory but didn't offer you anything in return until afterwards?" Jigano tried to clarify, but kept his voice gentle. "Remi... If you can't remember the memory he took, how do you know he took only the one you chose?" One hand fluttered in a shrug, fingers flexing as if to close on something and then release it to the sky. "The paradox of trying to remember a memory that is gone..." There were few things the bard hated more than mind-meddling. As soon as he'd had the strength and knowledge to do so he'd girded his mind from intrusion, spending his limited magic ruthlessly to keep his thoughts secret. He'd refused to learn spells of telepathy, even though they would have helped his friends and their mission greatly, for just such reason.
"And, no matter how painful... those events, those memories, make you who are you. How you carry them, whether you accept them, or confront them... or run away from them... define the kind of person you are. The kind of person you want to be." Jigano shook his head, eyes flickering bleakly for a moment before he drew in a breath and reached across the table to tap the book in front of his companion. Mention of the barrier teased at him, taunting with the nearness to his earlier research but... first things first.
"You should just?" he prompted, brow raised. "Gods most fortunate, Remi! You should 'just' learn from what has passed, and approach the world with a little more caution! A lamb in the woods might survive on luck alone to become a ram one day, but it's not likely if he doesn't learn to recognize the wolves." Sitting back, the older man sighed, caressing the edge of the book he held to help center and calm himself. "I should introduce you to my friend Samuel. Perhaps the two of you would get on well together... And he, at least, won't try to trick or steal from you."
