Alex had mostly been silent through the ring experiment, though he did slip off his ring -- he had been contemplating the way that his memory seemed only to return to him still in slips and snatches, frustratingly vague. He remembered more about his family, and he knew he had several children, but he couldn't even remember who they were, who his wife was, or even how many children he had. Only flashes, vague, maddeningly brief. Affection... actually, overwhelming affection. Being very busy. Red. He remembered that he had been a knight, and that he had fought in many difficult combats... but he remembered these only as if slipping in and out of consciousness as well. Snow. Blood. Standing resolute. Magic.
It was tantalizing and it was frustrating. These tiny little incomplete snippets of things that had clearly been very, very dear to him... they left him wanting more, wondering what this summoning had taken from him, left him feeling inadequate and
existentially frustrated from his inability to reach back and figure out what the hell was in these gaps. Without them... well, these things, he suspected, had defined him. He was left feeling somewhat empty.
Still, he did manage to pay enough attention to speak up.
:"
I apologize for not speaking up earlier, but Gregor, we may be from the same place. I understood you very clearly, and in much the same way, what Alec here and Ciera were saying were... halfway-intelligible, I suppose."
He looked down, now, and frowned.
:"
As for what I remember... I remembered during this battle that I have a wife and children, and that I was a knight. But I... don't remember my wife, or what she's like. And I don't remember my children, or even how many I have. I don't know what it is that I fought to protect, either. This..." he fell silent for a moment. "
is a deeply frustrating experience." He had been intensely loyal... but to what? To
who?