"Your preferences are so noted. But I warn you that good intentions do not always result in good consequences, and if I'm not mistaken, he is unfamiliar with the kinds of safety diagnostic spells that would be needed to properly verify whether someone is dangerous. Am I mistaken?"

"I, uh, um. I. Checked it with a charm?"

"Oh, a charm. And surely that eclipses everything a diagnostic from a trained and specialized professional with years of experience could possibly bring to the table. Was the fabled charm of your own making, or one of the ones we hand out to our staff?"

"Um. Um. One 'f the ones given t' your staff."

"Ah, I see. So the temperature range charm, that changes colors based off the estimated temperature in a space. With a range of several hundred degrees for each color, and the unfortunate habit of averaging out temperatures in a space instead of telling anything more specific. Like perhaps if the area directly around his person were significantly hotter than the surrounding area, or if there were any alarming fluctuations present."

Wince.

"Yes, I thought so."

...okay Zheras will wrap his arms around Quael. He is slightly warmer than a normal human but not too uncomfortably so.

Quael scrunches into Zheras and attempts to make himself as small as possible in the hug.

Zheras is not a small man so this is not difficult to accomplish.

"It is a mercy not afforded to many other aspiring young sorcerers for their well meaning reckless mistakes to not result in casualties. Consider yourself lucky. I certainly do."

Not much he can do here other than hug.

Quael is so on board with being very hugged right now. The most on board.

The sorcerer patiently waits for one of them to say something, looking quite unmoved by this display of physical affection.

And eventually: "So... what comes next?"

"That depends rather on what you want to do. Do you feel safe following me elsewhere? Would you like to wait here until the return of the rest of your memories so you can make an informed decision? Return to your warded chamber so as not to cause any accidents?"

"I do not think I'll cause any accidents. I have not been recovering my memories very quickly either, though, so I would prefer not to wait."

"Very well. Is there any information you'd like to help inform your decision? Anywhere in particular you'd like to go, anything you'd like to do?"

He shrugs. "I could follow you, if you agree that I do not need to return to the warded chamber."

"I would have to see your control in action to say for sure, and here is hardly the best testing ground. Especially considering the one in your embrace. Do you have more finesse than turning off the fire?"

Zheras releases his left arm and makes two stick figures made of fire appear above his upturned palm, one violet and one blood-red, then they bow to each other and start dancing. They emit no heat.

"Enough understanding for color, enough finesse for light without heat, enough coordination to arrange them into a dance. Quite impressive, I congratulate you."

"See? He's really good at fire," mumbles Quael into Zheras's hug.

"An astute and nuanced opinion from an expert," says the sorcerer, looking at Quael coldly.

The fire extinguishes itself and the arm returns to the hug.