Though that could be said of anyone, anywhere, Tolten had to agree. He'd much rather be dealing with mundane political problems than most of this.

"I think it would be impossible not to," he said, however. "Bad enough to have troubles, worse still to have them far from home and family." Not that he had family, precisely, but certainly friends. Loved ones, at least. "But lamenting about them isn't going to make them any easier to bear. And there is truth to the sentiment that family is where you find it."

He didn't think of himself as alone anymore, that was certain. He did have people here, even if those friendships were tenuous and new. He was certainly managing better at it this time. Though it begged the question: if he could barely manage to connect honestly with people enough to spark friendships, how on earth was going to manage sparking anything more intimate?

Once more his fingers moved with his thoughts, the strings of a bawdy brothel song slipping from the instrument he held.