"If his eyes are sad, then that's him, yeah." He figures Taiki could pick up on that much, and there's reason enough and probably reason more than enough for his elder sect leader to reflect heartbreak in what he does.

He stares down into his near empty bowl for a moment, tip of his tail a lazy curl one direction, then another. Strange was one word for it... unsettling another, depending on when he was asked.

"It's all strange," he says. "The things we remember aren't the same, the fact none of them are dragon souled, everyone's at an odd age. There's so much strange stuff I don't even know what to think, other than be relieved at least they know what I mean about some things from home."