"Well. And neither of you has the faintest idea what happened to the Kazaryne boy?"

"No. What was your secret scheme in sending him to me, by the way? In retrospect I can't imagine there wasn't one."

"I expected him to arrive, notice what a disaster you were, start a war with you, and win it," he says serenely.

"...he's seventeen," Seofar can't help pointing out.

"Then I suppose we'll never know if I was right," says Esarkan, amused.

"Thankfully. Aren't wars supposed to be a worse idea than usual, in context?"

"Only if you field an army of soulbearers. Kazaryne Taliar wouldn't have needed an army of soulbearers."

"...I've met the kid," says Seofar. "He didn't come across as the kind of person who wins wars singlehandedly. He's not even a soulbearer himself!"

Esarkan shrugs.

"I wasn't either, before I showed up."

"Whatever. Tell the Bright Flame not to burn my face off, I had nothing to do with what happened to her kid."

"I'll be sure to mention it."

"Will it increase credibility if you tell her Nahira skinned me trying to get me to tell her what I had supposedly done with him, because that happened."

"She'd have taken my word for it, but if you'd like me to pass that along as well, I'd be happy to."

"Iunno, how'll she react if you do?"

He shrugs. "I suppose she'll be sympathetic or something."

Seofar snorts.

"That is really not the relevant kind of specific."

"What kind of specific would you like?"

"Do you think she's likely to pity me, or assume that the fact that something that awful happened to me means I'm emotionally vulnerable to lesser forms of abuse, or other ambiguously positive forms of sympathy, or is she going to take me being actually basically okay now at face value?"

"I don't think you have to worry about her thinking less of you over this."

"She's Nahira's ex-lover," says Seofar by way of context. "I doubt she ever skinned her, but..."

"Ah. Okay. Well--if she'd want to know you can tell her. If she'd rather not be reminded that's fine too."

Esarkan nods.

Hugs. Siva is basically okay but that does not actually mean 100% okay 100% of the time.