"I did not give up my Art as penance" he agreed, looking thoughtfully at the last of the bread and cheese in his hand. "I gave it up for self-discovery. Little did I know what I would find." He chuckled grimly, then pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. There had been too much stress these last hours, the headache was slowly creeping up on him again.

"And me?" he asked, looking slightly quizzical. "I'm sorry" he continued, shaking his head. "I fear I am not the sharpest man to talk with today. In truth, I find it rather disconcerting to have a conversation where I do not control the flow of it." The wrinkles had grown deep npw. "I suspect that says a great many things about me."

Morgana walked over to him, hand extended, fingers spread. She balanced the very tips of her index and smallest fingers on the points of his forehead, just above the eyes--she was very nearly too small to reach. But at once, the headache cleared a degree.

"It is telling," she said. "But is it so strange, that I would still be concerned for you, even now?"

Maalech blinked a bit as the headache cleared, giving her a grateful look. "In one way it is strange, in another it is not. I am not used to people being concerned for me, but from what I learned about you I should not be surprised. You are quite a formidable woman." He said it with almost a hint of admiration, as if he considered her mindset and skills to be something he could not overlook or belittle. She was an equal in his eyes, something that did not come around very often.

"There is still the matter of my involvement with the Aspects to consider as well. The very reason why this happened in the first place."

"You may have confused 'formidable' with 'nothing to hide,' but I won't quibble with words." She smiled and took her hand away, shaking her fingertips. "I still know little of them, save that my lady sister mistrusts them."

"I rarely confuse matters" he remarked, flexing his brow a little, feeling relaxed for the first time since his restoration.

"The aspects are neither trustworthy nor worthy of mistrust. They simply are. For good or ill, like the seasons." He sighed a little, looking thoughtful. "I do not know why they have chosen this point in time to become as public as they are, but then I make no claim to understanding the intricacies of their work." He sounded rather passionate when he was talking about this "The things I have seen... there are things out there that I only have begun to understand Meg" he did not notice the slip into familiarity since he was lost in the wonder of what he had seen. "And I will have a choice to make. Either take the final step and become as they are. Inhuman. Implacable. Or decline and have all that I have learned taken away."

It was not a fair choice. But life was not fair.

"There have been worse bargains in the world," she said. "It's what most masters tell their journeymen: carry on in the craft, or give it up and return their tools."

"I understand that. I have sacrificed a great deal for my Art over the years, but the price they demand this time is my humanity. I will be changed, more throughly than when I was returned to childhood. The thought terrifies me..." he admitted this with an almost nervous look, he had not confessed that to anybody before.

"And yet, the thought of having to unsee what I have seen... it makes the thought of continuing this life seem dull and unappetizing. And yet... I would not know, would I?" He sighed and gave her a long look.

"These are fears I have not shared with anybody before."

Morgana's brow creased. "Maalech . . . from all I've seen, from all I've understood of this . . . what they have been giving you has been making you more human. Not less. If they take it all back, whatever you've become will be undone. You will go back to yourself again. And the only ones who will know the difference will be us."

"It is not as simple as that." Maalech frowned a little, wondering if perhaps she was right. "This is a road of my own choosing. I decided to give up my Art long before they had made their offer. Perhaps my motivation had a bit to do with them, but it was for entirely selfish reasons. The decisions I have made... the roads I have walked, they have nothing to do with the knowledge they have given me, they have everything to do with my knowledge of myself. Would they take that away as well I wonder..." It was obvious that he had not asked himself that question before, and the answer did not sit well with him.

"I have no wish to return to the man I was and have all of this be for naught." He sighed and shook his head. "And I do not even know how much is safe to share."

He was silent for a few moments. "There are people who have taken considerable risks on my behalf. I don't want to lose her."

"Had it not happened," Morgana pointed out, with a small, slightly arch smile, "you would not have hesitated to lose your humanity. You'd've taken their offer straightaway. Surely they must realise that."