Estinien chuckles and nods his head, in apparent agreement on all counts.

"If I were to be honest, it's gotten more and more ridiculous with time... the threats we've faced, and the things she's surpassed. We... had spent some time apart, in recent years. Much has happened in my absence."

In some ways that only feels natural, in others, he can't help but feel some niggling guilt. He's intentionally been a hard man to get ahold of, even when the Scions themselves were trying to get at him. It's hard for him to consciously explain why. There was an unavoidable anxiety to the feeling, but he's never been good at putting names to these things.

"I had just made the commitment to again fight by her side, but not long after we were drawn here. Together, apparently. And this time, instead of being met with honour and apologies, she was thrown in a cage to waste away... and instead of the Scions that have been at her side for so long, 'twas only I."

"She must needs be returned to our home," he says. "She is needed there, more than any other. I fear for everything we hold dear if she is not." He exhales. "But if nothing is resolved here, it sounds as if the problem will be much the same."