[And Bren was quite used to following orders, to doing what he was told under pain of punishment if he did not. There was something kinder, gentler about this Lord Thelyss, and it was all too easy, comfortable, to fall in at his side dutifully as he had been bade.]

I would say that I do not need so much looking after as that, but... I think I might. It's an adjustment, taking car of myself again, having that option.

[Freedom was a forgotten then, nearly atrophied in him after his time in Trent's clutches. The muscle memory was returning though, guided as it was by the gentle but firm hand of his still-mysterious benefactor.]

How long has it been? Since you lost him, that is.

[It was an intensely personal question, but there was an air of such sadness and loneliness that hung over this man, like his heart had been left alone in the cold for far too long.]