[ That draws another laugh from him. ] Memorization is a trick for entertainment. If you had as much time as me, I have no doubt you'd do better. [ A brief memory: the old keep he watched over as a Warlord. A group of children sitting around a barely adequate fire, the best he had been able to do in those lean days. Keeping them and their parents distracted from the pinch in their bellies by acting out Twelfth Night. Laughter is no substitute for food, but it's better than nothing.

They are what they have been made to be, him by being chosen, Wanda by choosing for herself, even if she hadn't known the full weight of it at the time. There is no escaping the power or the responsibility that comes with it. Though there is one subtle point on which he disagrees.

One of his hands is occupied with the act of holding her, but with the other, he finds one of her hands, smoothing his fingers over hers. ]

A warrior and a weapon are not the same thing, and it's wrong to conflate the two. You are no one's tool to wield.