"I don't know," is Sparhawk's considered answer. "Before I came here, I would have said that you would have returned, that you would have come seeking revenge and retaliation. My mind still held the image of you as my arch-enemy, and painted you demonic. I thought that nothing was beyond or beneath you. Now, there are no reasons for you to return. You don't want revenge, you have a wife and a life here, there is nothing for you in Eosia. Would you return, just because you could? I don't think so."

Sparhawk really shouldn't be as surprised as he is about the revelation that Martel met another Sparhawk. Actually, it gives him hope that if that Sparhawk can agree, then so can he. "And it was a promise you intended to keep," there is no question, it's a bald statement. "And what if you and I come to terms. What if I don't want to banish you from our homeland as a condition of leaving you alive? God knows, I know what it's like to be exiled."