“Sweet talking me and then reminding me you have work is borderline cruel,” Balthier says, but his smile is as radiant as ever. “Of course I will, and we can celebrate later. We have all the time in the world.” Which is its own strange giddy terrifying thing. Other than the general existential dread of knowing they could be ripped through time and space, there’s really no ticking clock on this, no running toward or away from some big point. That’s…new. And strange. And lovely.

That also gives him time to arrange some kind of welcome for David, and he likes that fine.