"I was diagnosed with a terminal illness when I was fourteen. On my deathbed she came, promising much more than a cure. I was not ready to die so in my desperate final hour I agreed. Then she imprisoned me for a hundred and thirty years."

He finds it easy to explain this to her. Much easier than he has with several others. Not many people in this town know how old he is, who he is. It helps that she speaks of magic so easily. And even more helpful is the fact that he is certain she does not know of the tall tale that they have turned his life into. He can just be another village idiot, buying into promises he should have considered more deeply before committing without her judgement of him being anything more than human.

"I am not ungrateful. It has been a blessing, too. But I may not have made the same choices back then if I knew what I do today."