[ yeah he didn't know either. xie lian really just thought it was stupid and told emet he was wrong to his face and that set off their entire relationship. it be like that sometimes.

as hyth explains, he nods, pulling his hand back and settling them into his lap to listen to him. ]

I see... [ but, a disrupted plan speaks of trauma, and, really... it makes sense, if emet-selch did such a turnaround of his behavior. xie lian knows what that feels like, too, intimately, and falls quiet on his end, too. ]

... The loss of someone so close - [ because he remembers, too, the memory that he saw. the story emet selch told him, about a son. ] ... it must have hurt him greatly.

...May I ask what happened? You don't have to tell me, of course.