“You do the telling an injustice, I fear. One story you may have, but how many more hide within it? Every choice we make and every choice we let pass, do these not make stories in their own right?” She glanced to Dolce, meeting his eyes, and delighted to see the same caution she felt in her bones. He’d noticed the desperation too. And that he’d wasted no time in recounting his own tale. “I do not laugh, and you must pardon my restraint, for these tales untold catch hold of my thoughts. The Defeated Emperor Who Retained a Sword. The Fallen Sage Who Realized Defeat. The Loss of All, The Choice to Laugh.” 

[Rolling to Speak Softly: 4 + 2 + 0 = [b]6[/b] I was going to ask [i]What does he want, and how could we help him get to it?[/i]]

Had she truly seen the company she walked with and the halls where they trod, she would not have committed such indiscretions. But her eyes were distant, and her sight was filled with a time long past and ever-present. “There are many ways such tales can go, Liu Ban. But here is where they have brought you, and here is how they have left you.” Her voice softened with unmistakable familiarity. “Will you do us the honor of sharing them?”