"You have known, or suspected, since when."
"Since our second conversation. When you asked about the meat's dispersal and I told you about fresh souls. You listened to the answer in a specific way that made me suspect you were thinking about how the realm worked rather than accepting what it did. That is a rare kind of listening. Ordinary hunters do not do it. Only souls whose talents work on the substrate ask those questions in that tone."
Bruce absorbed this.
"You have been watching me carefully."
"I have."
"Why."
The old soul was quiet for a long moment.
"Because two hundred years ago, someone like me told someone like you what I am about to tell you now, and it saved a soul who was in your position. I am going to tell it to you not because I want anything from you but because the chain continues. You may do what you wish with the information."
"Please."
