"There is not much we can do about it, these powers are greater than ours, but there may yet be reasons and understanding we can find." Istredd will never stop trying to understand the world around him. His mind thirsts for answers and that can't end. It's who he is, at his very core, always questioning, always looking for the truth. He doesn't fear the gods because he sees them as a step closer to answers about how the Singularity works, how the sphere works.

Istredd is startled by the sudden appearance of the book and glances over at it. He assumes Louis is doing it but it takes him a moment to realize it's unconscious. He isn't surprised though. Louis has psychic abilities and he is in a space that is instinctively reacting to his mind and heart. It is going to react to him quickly.

The sinner is confusing. He considers as he listens to Louis explain what happened with his brother. And how that connects to his complicated feelings about the sun. He feels only sympathy about it.

"There are different gods in every sphere. Or god-like figures. There are angels here, although I doubt they are the same from your holy books." Lucifer likely is because of course he would be. He can never really escape his story. Perhaps that is why he found love with someone so separated from all of that knowledge.

"I have no family so I don't truly know what it is like to lose them. I am sorry about your brother." Istredd sometimes wonders what it would be like. He's making a family of a kind within the Summoned, but it's not the same thing. He was raised with other mages, but they were never siblings. They were always pawns and tools and colleagues.

Istredd steps over to him when he picks up the book. "The past is impossible to undo but you had every opportunity to give up in the Pit and you chose not to. You wanted to live." He puts a gentle hand on Louis' shoulder. "So live." In the sunlight, in Solvunn.