"Yeah. You're gonna have to forgive me if I don't buy into that one." A very slight curve of Kash's mouth suggested he understood it better than his words suggested. And, of course, he did. Some healings had to be accomplished far more slowly than the magic could do it, in order to give the person a chance to adjust. And if Kash had occasionally not fully healed something to keep a hothead from rushing off and getting killed before they'd learned their lesson, well, that was between him and Life.

More quietly, sober, Kash said, "What you did for your friend might've been wrongheaded, but it was righthearted. You have a protector's heart." Like Z.