Then it's lucky, [ Claude says lightly, ] that your life is long enough for you to still have the opportunity to learn.
[ Immortality sounds terrifying to Claude. And alluring, all at once; how many times has he mourned the temporaneous nature of his life, of his body? He may still be young, but he knows that he will not accomplish all that he wishes to, will not live to see the peace he hopes to wrought, knows that he could accomplish so much more with the amount of time that the likes of Seteth and Flayn and Lady Rhea seem to have.
It is terrible too. Rafal has made that very, very clear. But it his role as Rafal's human friend - and he does believe that his understanding that they are friends is reciprocated, or else Rafal would not be confiding in him so - to try to lighten his spirits, to teach him of the sort of joys that keep human beings alive and well. ]
You've been dealt a poor hand, no doubt about that, [ he declares. ] And I'm sorry, that joy has been such a stranger to you. But... it's never too late to learn. I might not be the best instructor, but I'll teach you what I can.
[ Claude's own joys are few and far between. But for all his trials, he had grown up loved and cherished, enough so that his naturally joyful personality had emerged from the surface, rejoicing in festivals and tea, in quiet libraries and loud dance halls, in a cup of finely brewed coffee and the weight of a companion's head heavy on his shoulder after a hard day's riding.
He cannot provide Rafal with any of life's great joys. But the small ones? The small ones, he can do. ]
It's the sort of thing that's very difficult to discover alone.
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[ Immortality sounds terrifying to Claude. And alluring, all at once; how many times has he mourned the temporaneous nature of his life, of his body? He may still be young, but he knows that he will not accomplish all that he wishes to, will not live to see the peace he hopes to wrought, knows that he could accomplish so much more with the amount of time that the likes of Seteth and Flayn and Lady Rhea seem to have.
It is terrible too. Rafal has made that very, very clear. But it his role as Rafal's human friend - and he does believe that his understanding that they are friends is reciprocated, or else Rafal would not be confiding in him so - to try to lighten his spirits, to teach him of the sort of joys that keep human beings alive and well. ]
You've been dealt a poor hand, no doubt about that, [ he declares. ] And I'm sorry, that joy has been such a stranger to you. But... it's never too late to learn. I might not be the best instructor, but I'll teach you what I can.
[ Claude's own joys are few and far between. But for all his trials, he had grown up loved and cherished, enough so that his naturally joyful personality had emerged from the surface, rejoicing in festivals and tea, in quiet libraries and loud dance halls, in a cup of finely brewed coffee and the weight of a companion's head heavy on his shoulder after a hard day's riding.
He cannot provide Rafal with any of life's great joys. But the small ones? The small ones, he can do. ]
It's the sort of thing that's very difficult to discover alone.