Alcuin smiled wanly at the thought of becoming a peacemaker between the fae and what was looking to be more and more like a rival. After all, wasn't that all he had really done since his purchase? In the past he kept secrets only to harm and subvert, but now it seemed like all of his secrets were specifically designed to keep the disaster at bay for however long it remained feasible to keep them. It was a much more dangerous game he played now, all things considered. “A fair point – on all accounts,” he noted, his good humor just wry enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes. “Perhaps I have simply been too half empty, as it were.”
“Though I suppose it would be fair to say that I have been half empty for a long time now...” Alcuin sat down on the bench, grateful for the opportunity to rest his legs for a while, and gazed up at the fae with an expression that was difficult to gauge. “That is how my master found me – an empty and short-sighted creature of habit,” he smiled in a way that didn't quite reach his eyes. “My master chose me because he pitied me; I chose him because there was somewhat familiar in his smile.”
Alcuin offered his hand companionably after a beat. “And from the sound of things, it would seem that we have both landed ourselves in a right mess.”