The notes of reservation are there, but Marcus pays them little mind save to notice them. Mages, talking of their born families, has never in his experience been an easy subject. That it isn't easy for Julius makes it different in a way that is difficult to express. He characterises—well, both of his partners, really, as being distinctly utilitarian about the things that others might be more protective over.

Still, Julius speaks of it as asked, and Marcus listens. The structures of it, the conflict and potential made plainer. He'd understood some shape of it, had assumed. "And why did you say that," pressing, "about the family you came from, shaping your thinking? Compared to my own."