(looks like he'll have to monitor himself more closely, though lessa already doubts it'll have an effect. there are very few things he isn't impervious to despite this being his mortal form. though foul karma might have once affected him easily, it cannot touch him any longer; he has finally risen above it.

xiao is regarded instead of his hand, lowering it.) If you do so in order to repent, then I shall not intervene. But the forced circumstances that lead to your self-condemnation sound... pitiable. It may not be my place to say more.

(not for the first time since arriving, lessa thinks of his son.

he has come up often as of late, especially when conversing with the mortals who have made kenos their temporary home. never before, however, had he related ares closely with another nonhuman. slavery is one thing instantly condemned by lessa, and he would receive the souls of sinful humans and mean not to recycle them if they had been slavers. this was not the creator god's way; hell didn't exist then.

but it does now. and he supposes now that all of them shall burn there.)

Thank you for your candour, Xiao; I will not pry further. When we have known each other longer, I hope that you will tell me stories even when you are not asked to.