Exactly. He was truly free.

( Hwylryn seems happy Ish got the gist of it. He's so fond of his brother it's hard for him to extract a theme from him, to narrow him down into just a handful of words - but once Ish says it, he can't help but agree.

Gwawlyn was - is - wonderful. (Perhaps even more wonderful now that he's only memory.) )

If I didn't become the way I was, he really would've killed me. And I ended up liking the way I became. I loved meeting other creatures, and getting to know them... And Gwawlyn could handle all the domineering.

( It's that final remark that earns Hwylryn's quiet, and he closes his eyes, contemplative. He'd at some point drifted off toward the edge of the pond, and, gently, he pushes off from it, slowly drifting back.

There had been the briefest ember of malaise as he'd met the pond's edge - a broad ocean fish, trapped in such a small bowl. )

Is it?

( Slowly, he opens his eyes again. )

Some people have been saying we've been repeating all this... ( And it sure seemed the case - Junior's wound reopened; Hwylryn's grief refreshed... ) ... Is the time in here trapped? Moving, but only in a circle?

( Though, it seems, they're no longer as firmly anchored to this circle as they're meant to be. )