"Loved," he confirms with a nod. Jeff shrugs again and elaborates, "I ended up finding things that mattered more than magic. You know. My family, my home, my job..." All of which have been taken from him here. "I had to work really hard to--"

To build a life up from the wreckage he created, crashing and burning back to earth after his fingertips brushed against the stars.

"It's complicated."

He's afraid. That much is obvious. Though it isn't magic Jeff fears, so much as himself, and what he'll do if he wanders off the safe and narrow path he'd confined himself to for so many years.

"Anyway!" He gets to his feet, clearly too fidgety to sit still for very long. There's a forced pep in his step, an extension of that sunny armor he so often hides behind. "That was a long time ago now, no big deal, life moves on. Just-- be careful, dude. It would be such a fucking drag if something happened to you!"

One: because he was the first person Jeff ever met here, which means the bard's pretty much latched on to him like a duckling. And two: because he'd hate for something to happen to one of the few other magic users here.