"- I am clear on that you're upset about that whole thing but not of exactly what reassurance you're looking for - I have a lot more leverage now, I'm not going to betray you -"

"Really, really not the problem. If he is your source on learning nasty spells and you want or need to learn nasty spells that's where you go, he's just a creep and he creeps at you and it's creepy."

"I can probably find someone else it'd just take longer and I'd be less confident I was safe -"

"If you're comfortable with it."

"I'm - confident with it? It is satisfying to be in a position of accumulating resources. But I don't like that it bothers you - and I understand why it would -"

"It actually sounded like you completely failed to understand why it would. Which is weird."

"There's a cultural difference and we're not exactly navigating a domain in which I bothered acquiring a lot of knowledge but -" he shrugs. "Sorry."

"I am not worried you're going to cheat on me, I have vague protective instincts."

"But that's because you're - imagining I was wronged in the first place - I could probably have thrown the spell off sooner -"

"...I'm not going to tell you how to feel about it, I'm not going to tell you not to enlist his tutoring services, I'm not soliciting assurances about your fidelity, but the guy is a creep."

"I might have enough to go off anyway."

"Please do not increase the risk of lethal backfire by attempting to placate a discomfort you do not even actually understand."

"...I am mortal and might or might not have something after this life and I can model being protective of me for that reason?"

"Not the point!"

"Sorry. I trust you and I trust your judgment and I expect it'll make sense once I have enough relevant cultural exposure or something analogous happens to someone who isn't me or something."

Cam sighs and hugs him. "Okay."

"I really wish tiny me had walked in a month later, a little downtime would have been nice and I suppose we still have it but now it's more - fraught -"

"It is a bit, yes."

"Does that change what you want?"

"...what do you mean?"

"Well, the Elves all seem to think the appropriate reaction to this situation is to put their lives on hold indefinitely and you're not an Elf but you're also not seventeen -"

"I'm not an Elf, if I were an Elf then given how they count time I think I would in fact be seventeen - and look younger - and that seems like a reasonable philosophy if and only if it actually helps anything, so if you are functionally comfortable with the risk that I will turn myself over to a war crimes tribunal presided over by irresponsible alien gods should that prove necessary to return a bunch of entities I've never met to life, I'm not going to shoo you."

"If you do, and if they are stupid, I will go picking through a thousand worlds to find something better than them and I will get you back. But I won't stop you, and I do not want to be shooed."

Snuggle. "Then don't be shooed. I appreciate the commitment to my ongoing survival, I really do like being alive."