[The way she says her objection makes Liem think of the companions he'd come to know over his last few months in his own world—companions who were all dear to him by the time his life there ended, but who didn't need him to shepherd them, and wouldn't have thanked him for trying. The youngest of them, Juliana, would have objected most of all—probably because she knew how young she seemed in comparison to her companions. Nonetheless, at seventeen, her girlhood was behind her, and she'd never let anyone forget it.

Still, that hadn't stopped any of them from treating her like a younger sister, whether she'd wanted their protection or not.]

And yet, his gender served him in ways yours did not. He must have known that.

[If a reputation as a reliable, male warrior was all the currency that a stable-born jinba might possess, that at least was his to use as he wished.]

He couldn't control being born male, any more than you could control being born first. There is responsibility that comes with such a thing, just as much as from being the elder. More, even. It was that way in my country as well.

[The laws dictating the male-only inheritance of land and titles had no direct effect on a common-born priest, but Taldor's culture was steeped in patriarchal norms as a result. He's abundantly familiar with the attitudes that would expect a teenage boy to be in charge of caring for his widowed mother, or an adult sister to defer to her younger brother.]

Without you, he might have found it easier to find a prestigious master to serve—or he might not have become such a worthy warrior. It sounds like he looked up to you. Perhaps staying by your side was what allowed him to be so driven.