[ Imagine that. One of Set's own deepest, most painful injuries, is the same sort of willful ignorance shown to him by those who should have loved him. Maybe that is why he pursues this so hard with Liem, chasing down the old scars and reopening them bit by bit — to be able to taste them, and know them as intimately as his own. As he dips his head to be able to find Liem's dark eyes and stroke his face — worried in his own way, possessive in others. ]

You can, though. You can ask me.

[ It's not a hard thing to be asked. Hayame yearns to fight alongside Set, and he will one day do that for her. She has more than earned it. Dimitri will know the ugliness of war so that he can find an era of peace. The people of Springstar ( and the few of Highstorm ) who look to him as a real god, a god to pray to, will get what they want as well. The spirit of it, if not the letter. Ruby receives a protector. Liem — Liem, too, can have whatever he asks for. A friend was pressed into his hands, and returned tenfold by his caretaking and shy affections. ]

Did you know that the devotions of others have granted me my divinity again? Not in full, but enough to spend my might where it belongs And it belongs to you, Liem. You are a good friend, one — one I have never deserved to have. You have cared for me —

[ Reaching behind him, he places a hand across that uneasy fist and holds it. Nary an inch of space left between them for it. ]

Let me care for you, too. Because I really, truly want to. Because you deserve to be chosen.