"Hmm, okay." Janius thought about it some more, then after a short while he believed he might have come upon the difference. "And... I know it might be uncomfortable, but... what if the wamasu had killed us? What if your father and I hurt each other more? What then?" Janius' tone became more confident, "There might have been a point where you regretted not trying something else, but you couldn't have known. And when you're in the moment, it's often beyond the point of preventing unless you find something at the last minute. I think I might understand it now."

Janius repositioned himself slightly and placed his hand over Kaleeth's neck, "There have been a few times where I've almost died. They weren't all like the wamasu, where I had at least some form of control. Sometimes it was one of the pack that saved my life at the last moment, sometimes it was just plain luck. The first time, though, was before I became a werewolf." He began to lightly stroke his thumb over Kaleeth's neck as much to comfort himself as her. "I was with a group of fighters from a guild that I worked for, we had to clear out a cave that had some bears in it, but there were three fundamental things which went wrong. One, the cave bears were dead, eaten by a large nest of giant spiders. Two, the cave turned out to be larger than we thought. Maze-like. Three, the mouth of the cave collapsed and trapped us all. We all fought but eventually all of my companions were poisoned, killed, dragged away. You could hear their screams for but a moment before the venom swelled their throats and choked them. The only reasons I survived were, like before, I had magic, but also because after fighting for long enough something changed. I accepted that I was going to die." Janius tone was trying to remain stern, but it had shakes in it indicative of bad memories, "There was no escape, no chance. Once I accepted that, everything became clear again. I was still afraid and thrilled, but not of death. Without having to worry about that, I was able to focus and avoid the spiders. Eventually I slew them all. Not without injury, but I was alive."

Janius took a deep breath again to try not to get worked up about it. He looked at Kaleeth's tattoos again. "I have a feeling that, even though it was over a longer period of time, something similar might have happened in your trial. Having nothing in the middle of nowhere would panic many people to a freeze, but there had to be a point where you accepted what you couldn't control and focussed. These tattoos aren't just about resilience, Kaleeth, they're about overcoming the unknown. That's all bravery is. Do you remember when you overcame your fear during that trial?"