It is a delicate subject, the vanishing of one's friends from this place. The Fool's heart gives a pained little twinge; Fitz had been here for such a brief spell, but having him near had been such a complicated blessing. When he had vanished with so much unresolved between them...

"I confess I know of him only through hearsay," he replies at length, referring to Rutile's friend. He regards them with transparent empathy. "But you mustn't apologize. Losing ones we care about from this place seems inevitable, but that does not make the loss any easier to bear."

(He stubbornly does not follow that thought towards its logical conclusion regarding Devin.)