Vell ate quietly for a while.
He had been thinking about what he wanted to say.
It was not a particularly complicated thing, but he wasn't sure how to phrase it.
"I have decided to leave," he said.
Sonder looked at him.
The Yellow Mage continued eating.
"Leave?" Sonder asked.
"Yes."
"I think I should begin looking for Endrith."
Vell gave a small shrug.
"Any sort of pursuit. I wouldn't call it a proper hunt. Not yet, anyway. But it's more of a hunt than anything else."
"You think he is out there?" the Yellow Mage asked.
"I don't know. That is precisely the problem. I need to find out."
He leaned back slightly after he finished eating.
"I've formed a sort of plan. It's not much of one. More of a general outline."
"Reassuring," the Yellow Mage said, and Vell smiled.
"My 'plan' has two parts, three if we count leaving. I go somewhere else. Another city, perhaps. Somewhere large enough that I can start asking questions and looking around. Somewhere with enough people that if Endrith has started doing something, there might be some indication of it."
He looked toward the Yellow Mage.
"Where's the next big city?"
"You have been awake for only a day. Just as you advised your daughter, you should rest."
"I've rested long enough. …There is something else. I don't want you to think that you have to come with me, or think you have to keep on helping me. I don't expect you to. In fact, I wouldn't blame either of you if you decided that you've had enough of danger or traveling."
He looked down at the table.
"I need to know if Endrith is a problem. It might be nothing. I could spend weeks, months, years, maybe longer, traveling around looking for something that isn't there. Maybe I'll waste my time. But I need to know."
He then turned toward the Yellow Mage.
"And I should say this to you especially."
The Yellow Mage looked at him intensely.
"This is far beyond the point where your responsibility to me has ended. You don't have to look after me anymore. Actually, it's the other way around. I owe you. I don't have much right now. I've looked for my bag and I don't see it anywhere. I have no money, no resources, and seemingly little magic. I don't even have a particularly good idea of what the world looks like anymore."
He gave a small laugh.
"So I can't exactly repay you for everything you've done. But if there is anything you want from me, just ask. Anything I can give you, I'll try."
The Yellow Mage stared at him. The light behind his face-wraps warbled.
"You don't need to give me anything. You are a friend, and yes, I may have saved your life, but it was within my capabilities. That is not a debt."
The words were delivered with the same dry simplicity as everything else he said.
Vell looked at him for a moment.
"I am not coming with you. I will not leave my tower, nor the village. I have work to do. I am not a hunter, or an adventurer. I do not seek it. I have research to continue. I have already lost enough time. I will be here. But if you ask, I will help you, as a friend."
Vell stood.
He walked around the table and stopped beside the Yellow Mage.
The Yellow Mage looked up at him.
Vell bent down and hugged him.
For a moment, the Yellow Mage seemed completely unsure what to do.
Then, awkwardly, he lifted his remaining arm and hugged Vell back.
"I'm glad you're my friend," Vell said.
The Yellow Mage said nothing.
After a moment, he patted Vell once on the back.
"You are making breakfast rather emotional."