Luitwin could only retort with a smile and a hint of laughter, "We seem alike in a few ways, yes. I know of some priests who marry, but I can't say that they recieve the same respect. Monks do not marry, or... the obvious, as you can imagine. I don't think I've taken up any hardships with this rule, study and medicine are more than enough to occupy one's time, and when I'm not doing either, I'm like this, here with you, doing a little preaching and practicing my bedside manner." He glossed over it all like they were lighthearted jokes at his boring life and utter lack of excitement, a frame for which he only had because of how late he entered the church. The monk was sure his peers couldn't see any alternative to what they grew up with, and perhaps they were free of a lot of the same troubles.<br/><br/>"It isn't strange at all-" He shut himself up as Ardnt leaned close with a voice like gravel and eyes of something he dared to call respect, if not because it struck a chord in him, then because he was eager to listen. He couldn't help but look at the man with a mutual interest, much like he would the possibility of a new discovery or a chance to test his worth with a blade. "I'd... be keen on seeing how Alriah's surgeons function, being born of a nation that pushes for bloodshed." Luitwin noticed he'd replied with a low tone and was quick to straighten up, composed and natural with his eyes on the pages between his hands looking for other matters to put his mind to than whatever hellish aura surrounded Ardnt.<br/><br/>He offered a soft sigh and a moment's thought. "... I suppose it would be much easier for a good man to fall than a bad man to rise. The first must resist temptation, the latter has the trial of breaking terrible habits." It brought some ominous cloud with it, especially when Luitwin felt so enraptured, a reality in which this foreigner at his side dragged him down and the monk failed to raise him through his own incompetence. Perhaps such a fear was normal even in those men who weren't facing the same monsters he was, trying to tame wild beasts who knew little but mauling their prey and those who interfered. The only things standing in his way between those feelings of lust and pure contempt were the ways Ardnt stayed passive during these recitations, and his growing admiration, no, his obedience. Their post-shower feud only instilled more terror. If Ardnt were to see him as anything other than some sexless hand of God then he feared there'd be little in the way of rejection.<br/><br/>These numbered in the few thoughts Luitwin was forced to mull over as he continued to read, a hazed stare glued to the pages. He didn't even look up to speak, "My voice could use the training... This is to be one of my daily duties, after all. I'll be fine." The monk figured any sort of cold demeanor he was revealing seemed like just a product of their grim topics to an unsuspecting Ardnt.<br/><br/>At least the next odd something verses weren't as foreboding. Tales of a surgeon elevated to sainthood, the holy Isen, who created the tools of their trade and purified water with heat, among other things.<br/><br/>"Sometimes now I wonder... I don't doubt your story, but it almost seems a man of your stock would talk more like those sailors. Loud, with bombast, and not necessarily sensitive. Or is this characteristic of your people? You know Herzens see Alriah as a land of brutes. You say its strange of me to help you so much, but it'd be hard for me to turn down a man who seems so eager to please." Luitwin's breath caught in his throat, and he made a sound as if annoyed, "Despite our earlier scuffle." The monk cast his eyes up for a second, back down, then up again, finally committing to eye contact and swallowing that hesitation. "If it's just by your effort, then I'd have to say that makes me quite optimistic."