[Qilby jerks his head up, mildly surprised by the sudden company. After considering the question for a moment, he laughs.]

They say that a sign of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting something different. Should I be worried?

[He smiles. Joking, of course. Ten thousand years of isolation would have made it a different matter entirely, but apparently that is a fate he was lucky to have avoided.

He brushes more ash off his palm on the side of his leg.] I'm... Not accustomed to things dying at my touch like this. It's always been the opposite.