Memories of the world, of eons. ..It seems like a lot, doesn't it? Too much, for a single person to comprehend or bear. [ Mortals aren't made for such things. Her gaze lowers to their hands, and then she turns her head, looking at Noctis' slumbering form from the corner of her eye. ] He had needed an equivalent power that could contain and process such vast history.

[ Her eyes slide shut, then open. She looks back to Ardyn. ] That is me.

[ He's already seen her once before as a crystal, he's already known some of her other secrets, too-- such as the human-like shell she wears as a form, the bright, golden power just beneath her skin-- even if she hadn't outright explained them. He hadn't judged her, then. Or questioned them. ] So I gave him that protection, by giving him a part of me.

[ She looks at him sadly, some tension returning to her shoulders. She knows how much their family has been effected by their own crystal and gods, not always for the better. She knows she's effect others' lives in her own world, not always for the better either.

But she wants to do better, she wants to do better for others, for those she loves. It's playing favorites among mortals, she knows that, but in all of her existence, who wouldn't love him or his family? ] I... promise you. I don't mean harm, or--... or to give him some other fate, or to make him my own 'chosen'. That's not-- [ She shakes her head, drawing a breath that she doesn't physically need to take. Never would she want to give the impression that she's claiming him as some sort chosen to an entity like herself, as his gods have seemed to mark him. He isn't a possession. He isn't a tool in some fate to her, some part of some grander plan.

He's someone she loves. ]

This is because I love him, and I want to help him.