With anybody else - or, indeed, maybe even Isopia herself a short time ago after their argument - Volterra may well have used his title to his advantage. He is, after all, a man of many vices, one of which is a primal need to assert his dominance in any way possible...and what is the use of being Sultan if he can't occasionally fondle his ego by using it? Such a thought does not cross his mind when the Mountain asks, though. Doing such a thing to her, despite what's happened, seems more petty and spiteful than he can possible contemplate. Not just because of the carnal reaction his body always has to her - tingling flesh, aching there, darkening eyes and a flicker of something softer in the depths of his heart - but because she is his friend, and that is something Volterra values.

He watches Hubris soar along and snatch up some of the fire, surreptitiously glancing upwards as though expecting the Sun God to descend and immolate him for allowing somebody to desecrate the fire in such a way. He's distracted from this unpleasant musing as Isopia speaks again, asking him how he is. There's a deep sorrow in his chest at the notion that she feels the need to fill these silences, and that indeed the silence had felt awkward in the first place - time was, they could simply stand together in companionable quiet with nothing but the beating of their mirrored hearts to break it. Alas, that is what happens when one must start afresh without the burden of a shared past, or at least with a shared past that only one of them truly remembers. They have to earn the right to enjoy their silences again, to be content in simply sharing each other's company.

Until that time, small talk is the best way to go. "Well enough," comes his response, conversational and jovial in tone. "Ruling the herd takes up most of my time, but it is something I enjoy doing so I would not bemoan it. Whenever I get chance, I scour the Marsh for any way to defeat Kaos, but these trips have proven futile." He frowns, feeling the familiar frisson of displeasure at his failure to discover anything about the false God. "And you?" At lot must have changed for her, what with the Falls disbanding and all.