[Quiet on this end of the line now. Erskine could tell the truth, that he's been too busy for the last few centuries to bother with presents even for his brothers--first the war, and then everything that came after. Somehow they always end up reminding each other about that, though. The bad times. Not the times when they were close enough they could finish each others' sentences. Why don't they ever remind each other of those?]
no subject
...surprise?