Caspian listens with the same focus he'd given all his advisors over the years, knowing they knew more than he, and when Alain finishes, he nods. "I understand."

He meets that stare of Cuthbert's with a level, steady one of his own: a man who has faced giants and monsters and the murderous intent of his own family and not backed down. "So. Do you still tell me to stay away, and leave what may come tomorrow to you?"