"Well, that would be new, I think," he said with a small chuckle, "I'm usually the selfish one in companionship. I had a friend who told me..."

He shook his head, "That I only keep my companions around because I'm lonely. Lonely god or some such nonsense. She actually told me that while I was a human, as a matter of fact."

His eyes looked over Illyria's face, trying to find the woman he'd known before in this human's features. "But I don't imagine it's that way with you. You're important in a different way to me."