[It's a relief to hear, but something about the way he says it stings. With everything he must have learned, did he feel like Aether was lying to him all this time? Or was Aether reading too much into it?]

[But the topic of his sister, while normally a pleasant and somewhat melancholy one, was a bit harder to handle in his current state. Not that he'll show it (yet), outside of taking a rather large sip of his drink.]

I guess the side of her I remember most was when we were just playing around. But thinking about that is a little weird. Technically, that was just me in there, too.

[Which means he absolutely remembers plotting against himself, at least to some extent.]

But I don't think either of us were ever good at lying. It's easier to just... not say anything at all.