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“Hmph. So to make me more ‘receptive,’ you decided to kidnap my daughter in the midst of a terrible battle?” said Zeff bitterly. “A battle wherein you offered no aid to us, as well? Interesting strategy.”

“No aid? I seem to recall you having quite a bit of trouble with that little Marauder man until I removed him for you.”

“And Ivan? You had a nice and long conversation with him before disappearing. Do you know how many of my kin you could have saved that day with power like yours?”

Gohvis let that question linger, unanswered.

Zeff didn’t need a response, though. “Your words are insincere. Your intentions, muddy. You speak of Graves as if he is only out to manipulate me and my people--and perhaps that is true--but you do not strike me as any better. In fact, you are probably worse.”

“Mm. Probably? So you are not yet certain, then.”

Zeff scoffed.

“I will consider that progress,” said Gohvis.

“You are surprisingly flippant. I’d heard the Monster was never anything other than dour and humorless.”

He returned a slight nod. “It is true that, in the presence of fools and manipulators, my mood tends to worsen. But I do not think you are either of those things, Zeff Elroy.”

“If only I could say the same about you.”

Another rumble. Another laugh. “You do have some stones on you, don’t you? Not many would dare to say such things to me, anymore. It is almost refreshing.”

Never in his life would Zeff have imagined hearing the Monster of the East laughing so amicably in his presence. Or laughing at all, for that matter. He was at a loss for words now, quite frankly.

After a short time, Gohvis continued on. “I will not try to argue your points about me. In particular, if I am being perfectly honest with myself, I think there is some merit to the notion that I am too... insulated. That I am sometimes too concerned with my own goals and therefore blinded to other matters that might benefit from a modicum of my attention.”

Again, those were not things he had been expecting to hear from this man, right now. Where in the world was this conversation going, he wondered?

“It may be a product of age,” said Gohvis. “Perhaps you will notice the same thing, should you achieve similar years. Eventually, the world seems to... blend together, one might say. Many--or even all--problems that I encounter have begun to feel... recursive in nature. Chronic. To the point, perhaps, that addressing them is without purpose, because they will just keep reappearing, anyway.”