"Given how pure his emotions run and how blown by the wind he can be, I don't think he's ever been disappointed with you. Maybe the situation you were in, but not with you. Otherwise, you would have a much harder time holding onto him. It would take an iron grasp, which is more than the gentle caress he needs to stay by your side."

The jonin paused a moment. "As the head of my clan, I am observant. I have watched him wander here and there mentally before he started fighting his feet. He might not have even known he was doing it, but he was starting to wander after he was shot. He took long routes to camp. He poked around in the caves below your castle.

"But, Alison, it is a very small part of him. There is a much larger part that endlessly loves and adores you. It is not a prison if he does not see it so. If he can still see the sky and hold you, he is very much a free man.