[Liem isn’t sure what to expect from the communion that Hayame so tentatively extends his way… but the reluctant, detached “announcement” she extends his way could not have been it. He of all people knows that Hayame is not always stern and confident as she often appears, but she has never shrunk back from speaking with him, not in this way. The cool, formal message she offers him feels wrong, coming from a woman who, while not remotely the only person to discover his heritage, remains one of the only few people in Kenos to ever simply embrace him. The only mortal being to do so, certainly.

Well… perhaps he should not be surprised. He cannot blame her for deciding that she has finally had enough from him. Even so, he delves a little into the shadowy corner of his mind where she now lurks, coming to her if she will not come to him.]

Is that… the only reason you contacted me? [Behind the courteous attention, there is a ghost of disappointment. She’d mentioned Claude; perhaps she is with him, then. Perhaps he already provided her what aid she needed, and she really does have no need for a second-rate friend like Liem.] To get me to forget that you needed help? Do you want me to pretend that I never received any contact from you at all?