[to the one I killed. it certainly puts things into perspective, lips curling faintly. it's a wry expression, to say the least.]

An obligation is certainly a powerful tool.

[his voice softens then, and this time he does reach forward, placing a hand over Dohalim's own. it's light, easily brushed off or pulled away from, but it is most certainly there.]

I apologise. It seems that there are still some... lingering aches in my own history. But I have found that life is not so bleak as we think, no matter our past mistakes, and simply forgetting them is just too easy. [and oh, does he ever know that. inhaling a slow breath, he shifts his weight to test the idea of getting up, legs stretching out slowly.] I can offer nothing more than condolences and an ear, of course. If your decision is to simply disappear, then I have no recourse for that.

But... I wonder, then, why you were the one to find me? Perhaps you don't want to die as much as you believe. Perhaps ambition, for you, is not as simple as the whims of Renan culture. I don't know your history, so I can hardly do more than guess. I simply suspect that you and Melqal are not nearly so far removed as you think, in self nor in your... insufferably bleeding heart.

[insufferably, he says, with such warmth to his voice that it's clearly a frustration borne of love.]