"Huh." Indeed, a thoughtful statement, though it did back up that something new was, in the end, perhaps most required. Something innovative and beyond traditional, but to what extent that meant much to them, that they were to do anything at all, he couldn't say. Were they?

He agreed with the Merchant's request, that they survive to leave the world, and not add to its burdens. Still...

"Who was it," he said, "That took Ellethia?"