Everyone has a history, some more bloodstained than others; Martel's lasting legacy to Elenia is war, pain and regret for a better man that never was. He will be remembered as the bastard he made himself into, so perhaps he can leave that man in history's pages and see if the other one is anywhere to be found here. Either way, some conversations are unnecessary in a way that defies explanation, and he's never going to be anything unrecognisable to his friend.

(It isn't that easy, of course, but he's making it up as he goes along regardless.)

"You make me look better as you are," he says, dryly, and did Balthier know that he's going to generously share his booze? He is, it's excessively kind of him.

The understanding is mutual, in its way.