["Young and stupid" can mean lots of things. Easier to manipulate, prone to being a little shit, lacking life experience to appreciate what you've got...or all of the above. Either way, it sounds like Illarion knows he still had some growing to do.]

That's how the Dream was. But people who came back weren't exactly unscathed — there's a kid who sacrificed his leg to save his friend from the worst parts of it. A little too soon to say we're on easy street, you know?

You seem to be handling the whole 'I-died' thing pretty well, though.

[Better than Vyng himself did, well before Trench or the Dream. But he keeps that thought to himself.

Then Illarion asks that question, and Vyng promptly looks at the sand, the water, the sky. Anywhere that isn't his companion, like a nervous animal who feels cornered. Normally Vyng is the one uncovering other people's unspoken baggage...sometimes with delicate fingers, sometimes with a sledgehammer. It depends on the situation.

He's not sure how to feel about being on the receiving end of such an astute observation. ]

Oh yeah? [Not a flat-out denial. But Vyng's knee-jerk reaction is to get cagey about it. He recognizes the pattern as soon as the words come out of his mouth. But old habits die hard.] What makes you say I didn't like it?