"...what?"

And Tahir elaborated:

"It seems as though you may be a rich man's pet! That must be uncomfortable, right? Do you wish to leave his grasp?"

To which the boy replied, eloquently:

"...I don't care."

And it did not seem like the boy was lying or fooling himself, so Tahir returned the boy to the man who kept him like a pet. This story ends less satisfactorily than he'd hoped, and he still feels like he was missing something, but if the boy himself didn't see a problem with his arrangement, Tahir did not think it was his place to intervene.

"I've been meaning to go back to Pernth Bay one of these days to go check on that guy but haven't gotten around to it yet."

This story does seem to help the woman who can't remember herself, though she doesn't... exactly look unconfused after it's over.

"That was nice of you. To not -"

how could it be nice. he was trapped!

"- upend his life without his permission," she finishes, stubbornly.

trapped forever pretending everything is fine when he knew it was not but how could he not care!

"That was a really good story," says the woman, who is nonetheless making some kind of face about it. "It's - it - there's - space, between me and - her."

"You have your own opinion about the topic, and it's a strong one. Do you think you can expand on it?" says Vetmera, gently, even as she - carefully reaches in, puts her own mind in the gap between the two that are melding into one. She's not prying anything away from anything else, that seems like it'd potentially be too damaging, but she can prevent the ground from being lost. For a little while, at least.

"W-well I mean it's just obvious, r-right?" she says, furrowing her brow. "Everyone's going to be happy with a, a, a different kind of life? And making someone throw theirs out over something he doesn't even actually care about is - I - it's -"

no no no no no it's wrong it's wrong save him save him he's trapped save -

"Shut the fuck up, you're not even talking about the story, you're talking about you, again, because fucking everything is all about you!"

"I think we need something else in this vein, eliciting an emotional reaction that's different between them both. Something else that's - related to personal freedom to choose, I think? To make choices that - put someone in danger?" Vetmera's squinting at the woman, pushing down the guilt that isn't fucking hers, thanks in favor of trying to think through the problem.