[Duncan Sythe]

“I am afraid that even the most powerful Mystic on Telath may not be able to tell you what happened between the last time I saw you and now.”

Duncan admittedly candidly before he said anything else, none the less watchful of the man. Serion appeared to have not only survived the cold south but returned rejuvenated. Admittedly he was not fully aware of who he was, but in that Duncan could be of at least a little help, exactly how much depended on the nature of the damage to the man's mind. Not all memories after all might even still exist and those that did might be fragmentory. He had little doubt given his experience that if the memory existed he could resurrect it, it was just more down to how much there was to give Serion back.

He'd experienced some so far though and clearly still possessed some of his more innate talents, thus, to himself at least Duncan had some hope of Serion potentially regaining knowledge.

The questions lay in how much Duncan even wished to be involved with that. Serion was not after all, no...not was not but had not been the nicest of Telaths denizens. Equally though Duncan was unsure whether he had the right to make such a decision and, more over, he didn't know what the impact of Serion regaining any knowledge of his self could be. He could after all be appalled by what he had been or could embrace it with fervor as it gave him a direction.

The most immediate point, aside from all of those concerns regarding Serion's mind however was convincing him of who Duncan Sythe was as Serion was, rightly, suspicious and most likely a little confused. It was time for a story.

He'd poured himself wine whilst Serion had spoken, making an effort to seem at ease with the man despite nagging suspicions and impart at least some sense of familiarity. Although whether what was conveyed was merely that Duncan didn't fear Serion or that he was indeed comfortable with the Vysstitichi, Duncan couldn't tell. Taking a seat on the arm of one of the chairs he crossed his hands across his knees, taking a sip of his wine before speaking.

“There was a trip, an investigation into an archaeological dig in the southern wastes.” He began. “It took months to get there and along the way we discovered given the closeness of the group that we were both present along with an associate of yours, Faust.”

Duncan watched for any recognition of the name and went on.

“We disimbarked. I could tell you the entire story of the strangeness of that place but..” He shrugged. “It's irrelevant to the matter at hand so i'll skip to the part that isn't. The dig site was a mess and there were only three survivors, all three very strange. We spoke to a human that possessed incredibly strong mental powers and were forced to subdue him. Investigations continued and we got lost.”

He stared off to one side as he recalled. He also decided to keep things short.

“Then either we were incredibly unlucky or drawn towards the source of all the chaos. Once there things went badly, me and Faust lost track of you but saw some others that were...changed, they'd been attacked by some kind of creature that had taken control of them.”

Now Duncan looked directly up at Serion.

“One of them took control of you.” He summarized bluntly. “They were incredibly powerful, even one of them had nearly killed the three of us, we had no idea what other powers they had and your mind appeared to be...gone.”

Duncan took a slightly uncomfortable sip of the wine, aware he was pretty much admitting Faust and him had left Serion to his fate...but then he could just hope the man was bright enough without his memories to comprehend that given the situation trying to remove Serion with them was pretty much a non-starter.

“We had to leave or be killed. The last time I saw you, your face has tentacles and you'd been turned into some kind of magical zombie. The last time apart from the other brightening on the training field.”

He concluded.

“You asked how you could be eaten and still be here. Eaten is not perhaps the right word as I trust you can now see. My response when I first saw you was what it was because of the power and danger of the thing that attacked you. Whether your mind contains knowledge of the events between then and now.”

Duncan tilted a hand in a 'who knows' gesture.

“Perhaps, perhaps not. Equally why Imperia? I don't know. As to who you are...”

There was a very strange expression on Duncan's face now, dangerous almost. The admission he'd happily made that he was a mage transcended into something different, mysterious. He was contemplating himself whether it was a good thing or not to give Serion his memories back – or try to – but the point was more that he was studying Serion with eyes that were used to situations like this, to strangeness.

Duncan wasn't frightened of any of it and Serion, therefore, was a man that had dealt with mages and powerful men. He knew that would matter to the Vysstitichi.

“The question is not whether you could regain your memories, your clearly already doing that. It's whether you wish to. You are not the person I remember, so I must put to you the question of who you are now and who you wish to be?”

He put the wine aside, crossed his arms.

“I won't lie to you and tell you that you are someone you are not Serion D'rinishad. Even when I knew you before I didn't know the whole of your story, only parts – and I am reasonably sure someone else could tell you your history better than I could, Faust for example. In the end though, it's down to you.”

The implicit suggestion that Duncan had someone to offer in regard to memories if Serion wished it was there and Duncan wasn't being intentionally obtuse – regardless of Serion's next reply he'd extend upon that when he responded, but for now he didn't want Serion's answer about his current state of mind clouded by the possibility of regaining part of his memories or more than part.

No, he wanted to know about the man that had traveled from Imperia to here; the one in front of him, Serion D'rinishad the Vysstitichi Prince was currently not important, Serion who had saved Graham...was.