[There's another one of those thoughtful pauses and he turns to look up at the sky (or whatever there is around here) for a bit. It's all quite complicated. Eventually-]

It must be hard to be a scholar, if one has to think of such troubling things often. I wonder, is it the fate of all things to war against one another until there's nothing left? Now I look back, I'm sure I once thought it so, but I just forgot.

[He gets a melancholic smile, still looking up.]

But then I recall why I forgot and it seems a strange notion to hold. No matter how far back the past reaches, the future extends further and who can say what will occur? I don't think fate can bind, not so long as there are those whose hearts can feel sadness for loss and joy in another's life. Things may repeat and an endless twilight may be what it seems, but it only has to change once, doesn't it?

[And about now is when he realises he's been waxing philosophically to someone he barely knows. He does that sometimes, and it embarrasses him again. So he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, going a bit red.]

That's what I think anyway, hah-hah...