Grateful, he reaches for the steaming cup. "Grazie, Master Xellos, grazie."
Which of those promises were kept? Which did you keep?
"Both, I believe. Although perhaps not in equal measure." His breath comes in a little huff that collides with the steam from the cup. "There were many trials before the narrator received his reward, if I remember correctly. But receive he did. Dante did not begrudge him his happiness. Yet, I hear you, Xellos. I myself am no friend of winter. Even if it has its uses."