<div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f0/6b/54/f06b54355d16dfef1f2a014fde7b9cc9.jpg)</div><br/>Abir pressed his fingertips together and nodded. "Hmm... that is quite the question, isn't it? Well, I'm afraid my reasoning may put your skeptical mind any more at ease. Let me start by explaining something my father told me."<br/><br/>Abir stood and paced the room, his eyes cast up at the sky in fond memory, as if he could see his father, as he was when Abir was but a boy, standing over him. In a deeper voice, Abir said, "Son, I was once a powerful mystic in my youth, just like your brother, Faruk. In my dreams I explored the spirit world, greeting the guardian spirits of rivers, mountains, and the weather. I spoke to fire, listened to the tales of the ocean, and even heard the Holy Voice of The Master Himself! Yes, the Great Wayfinder didn't just speak to me, he sang."<br/><br/>Abir closed his eyes and nodded his head, the tale clearly being the most important thing his father had ever told him. "But for all the wonders I saw, nothing was as beautiful as your mother. So, I gave up the ways of the Wiseman to become a husband, and, later, a father."<br/><br/>Abir's eyes opened again and he smiled at Alden. "It's such a beautiful tale... to experience so much, so many beautiful things, but find someone greater than everything else. I never felt that with any suitor who came my way. But it's the way I felt when you kissed me."