Somewhere in the back of his mind he considers the absurdity of Sparhawk coming to him so determined, when it had always been Martel holding the sword out between them; he considers the absurdity of his refusal to trust this, when he knows that he wants it. It's all very unfair.

"Oh, it is." He's quiet after that long enough that his brother might think he has no intention of saying on, but he adds eventually, "It'd never let us, but it's more than big enough. In theory."

He's quiet a while longer, too, and then: "Kalten yelled a lot of things at me. I don't think 'surprise' was one of them, though he was." Surprised.