"Your home is very nice," he told her, sitting down next to her on the stool. "I'm not...not really me, anymore, so like you said. I have to adjust. It's not all palaces and huge tents anymore." He smiled back. "Thank you. It's nice to have clean clothes and shake some of the sand from my hair."

He sighed. "I figured as much. They were fighting for control before I was even dead. Kept hounding me, even onto my deathbed. It must have really irked them, to never know. How long did it last?" Even before, he'd had a voracious appetite for knowledge, and he'd try and learn as much as he could from Clio before she got sick of having him around. "It was rather nice to see the city still standing and doing so well," he added.