His robes continue to grow wet from tears, but Elidibus is far past caring about that. Shifting back, he shifts their combined weights to lower himself to the ground and fully sits with Popp hauled into his lap. He spares a hand for his next task - snatching up his staff and firmly seating upright into the ground next to them both, where it remains standing.

There. Now the effort he spent to put wards on it can actually be utilized, giving them some amount of privacy and safety.

"No, I do not know. Because from what I have seen, you committed no errors - another made a choice, and that choice was to defend you. You are not at fault for that decision. Nor are you at fault for my decision to protect you. Had I lost that skirmish, it would no more be your fault than it would have been mine that you were apprehended in the first place."

Elidibus feels a great many things, and quite a bit more of them are playing over his face than they usually are. Perhaps it is the heat of the moment, but he comes to make a decision. A gift. The most precious he has.

"You will grow to keep people safe. This I know, that you shall find strength and grow to be one of your world's mightiest defenders. How can it be otherwise, when you are you?" A last breath before the plunge. "And to show how certain I am of this, I speak to you not as Elidibus but... as Themis."

He smiles, eyes welling with tears of his own. Emotional with his own decision. "That is my name. Themis."