[Liem nods slightly, soft sympathy for the other man’s words. For the companions he’d had, and lost. For the connections he’d made later, despite the lonely years. After well over a century of living almost exclusively among humans, he knows this pain well, from the few companions he’d managed to find throughout his long life.

It had worn him down, over time. Made him a sober and reluctant friend. He owes much of his current fortune to the obnoxiously headstrong nature of the companions he’s come to know in this world, he is well aware. Making fast friends in Kenos had not been his plan.]

Choosing a faction was not something I did immediately. When I was brought here, I had already spent months mourning my home and my god. [His eyes flick watchfully about the colourful surrounds as they make their way through the handsomely-draped tunnels. He doesn’t expect the same hostility here that he would in Kowloon proper, but nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.] The lord of the previous land to welcome me shared Lady Yima’s outlook, but not her gentle demeanour. I was given no choice in joining their service, and was expected to do things that I could not condone. My arrival in Kenos closely followed an… eventful stay in that lord’s dungeons.

[He was tortured, is what he means. Funnily enough, he doesn’t remember it that well anymore, even though it happened only a little over a year ago. Perhaps they’ve just begun to blend together with his boyhood discipline.]

I was not well-disposed toward the idea of "factions" after that. But I think, more than anything else, I just needed something to believe in again.