The explanation of what the two words meant had Sainan itching to return to his chambers and dig out the books from their hiding place. Given the hatred many had toward Mes’Mo’Tanians, he had thought it unwise to parade around what had been sent to him. For all he knew, Kazim and Yousef would think them offensive. Those words had been used often enough that understanding what they meant could potentially Sai make more sense of the parts of the book he had been able to partially translate. He was grateful to have those as connections, but what came as a greater shock to him was that he was also being told the name of the author of the books as well. The front of every journal had<i>Théadan Rúl, Rass av Mes’Mo’Tan</i>in the top corner, so he saw it nearly every time he went to read one of the journals. Sai nearly told the man to wait and let him go get a book so more could be translated, but the uttering of the man’s name brought forth a second memory.<br/><br/>The letter Navia had sent to him had named her captor as Théadan Rúl. Standing before him was the man who had taken his sister from her home in the first place and for a time, Sai’s excitement faltered. It was as Théadan continued on, speaking of how he and Navia had escaped the Mes’Mo’Tanian family and made the treacherous journey back to Mandira, that Sainan began to really think over everything he was learning. The man leaning against the wall opposite to him loved Navia, and claimed she did as well, and that was heavy information for the young man. Those were words Navia would not use lightly and if she had brought him back to Mandira with her, Sainan had to assume she really did love him. She had called him kind and regretful in the letter from months ago, but there must have been more about Théadan than just that to make her fall in love with someone so different than them.<br/><br/>The questions that came from learning such eye-opening information had to wait, for Théadan had questions of his own for Sai. They stared at each other for a moment before Théadan commented on the way he looked at him. He questioned why Sainan did not seem distrustful or hateful toward him and that caused Sai to ask himself that as well. It was clear Kazim harbored a deep hate for Théadan, seeing as he had been thrown into the dungeons, and Sai was confident Yousef probably did not trust the man either, yet there was something about the Mes’Mo’Tanian that did not make him seem like a threat. He said himself he had done terrible things, and though he did not realize it, he had been the one to bring Sai some of the greatest heartaches he had ever known. But he had also helped to return Navia. Sai did not doubt that Théadan had hurt Khlurios, but Sai also trusted his gut and his sister’s judgment. Both said Théadan could be a friend, not a foe.<br/><br/>“One of the first things you said to me was you were here because of your sins and you seem set on atoning for them. Who am I to deny you that?” Sai shrugged, knowing it was far more complicated than that, but still unsure of whether he wanted Théadan to know who he was for the time being. “I’m also usually good at reading people and you do not strike me as someone who is a ruthless killer. Forgiveness heals, or does it not? Should we not try to instill grace on others that we would like for ourselves?” Perhaps it was naïve of Sainan to think so, but he had never seen the likes of war, had no idea just how Théadan had affected his life, but he saw it as a good thing to try to be understanding of the enemy when the enemy was trying to seek out forgiveness. There was no denying it though; the biggest reason Sainan was not looking upon Théadan with immense hate was largely because of Navia and his own innate curiosity.<br/><br/>“Maybe I also just like the idea of having my own personal Mes’Mo’Tanian translator,” Sai teased with a laugh, and went on without much thought on his words, “Though I suppose I might have to compete with my sister for your attention. I’m trying to think of the exact words, but what about ‘<i>Aya opay ita beyta reáda lomross’? </i>What does that mean?” He had seen it a couple times, and usually when he had been able to translate enough to understand the author had been describing a hunt of some kind. “And what is the name of your horse? What is he like?” He could not remember a horse being mentioned in the journal, which was surprising to Sai when Théadan had expressed how important the horse was to him.