"i'm surviving." as the words fall from his lips, he's reflective, and it causes a silence to fall for a few moments after.

once it cleared, though, his eyes find her and he finishes his thought with, "i mean to say, i'm doing fine. not spectacular, but not terrible."

though he has met somebody, he doesn't feel the need to share that with sagira. a woman he knew for a time, helped her change her life, knew very little as his mother had handled most of the informational part of the operation and he'd just helped to quietly move her across the border. he'd literally smuggled her out of the region.

but then again, he'd done far worse, and he would do far worse, even if he didn't know it at this time during his conversation with her.

"are you relieved to return to duty?"

sagira mosse

truth be told, sam has only met king once. and maybe twice during a pokémon battle match of the star tournament, but that was still up for debate within sam's own mind. so he did not, in fact, know what king had done. or at least, he had not purposed to know.

"i know that he went against what he had been previously following out of grief."

that which had been more rumor than media coverage, so sam hadn't put much stock into it at the time. he also used a tone, when expressing this, that would lead sagira to believe he was not blaming her. it was not, in sam's eyes, her fault that king grieved ... violently.

also, their lives were not his business any longer. he'd done one job and that was it.

"beyond that i'm afraid the rumors gave little detail. you don't have to go into detail if you'd prefer not to, however, you do now have me curious."

his way of asking for more information but giving her the option of saying she didn't want to share. if anything, he'd ask king next time he thought he saw him.

sagira mosse

"it wasn't your fault," sam tries to explain. "because if it was your fault he acted out, it would mean it was my fault as well.

"the actions he took were his own decision. if it wasn't because of you, it might've been because of something else. you cannot blame yourself for the choices others make. if you do, then you'll end up an old hermit on a mountain with nothing to call your own but the ghosts that haunt it."

speaking from experience? maybe a bit, but mostly?

she looked much more content with a smile. everybody did. and sam honestly believed everybody had a reason for a decision, sure, but it wasn't fully another person's fault. takes one to cause a problem and another to make a decision about that problem.

even if he didn't really get that across right, he means well i swear.

sagira mosse