And the south could be further stirred, John might say, were this a different kind of conversation.

But there are better ways to make mention of such things.

"I've never been so inclined before I arrived there," John says instead, and while it's intended to clarify, it's still a statement that is as much John working through the thing as it is him knowing. "So it's a strange thing, losing something I'd barely acclimated to having."

And it was only partly about Nascere itself, after all. What linked him to that island had been Flint and it had been Madi, and should they choose another island, then—

"Do you have intentions to return to Dragonmount?"