"You know he has every right to his pride. Just as you do to yours." Kerrak would watch the man another moment longer, then nodded. "Both of you took something that was broken and in need of repair and did something with it. Made it better. He took a nation wracked by civil war and unified it behind his banner. Most of his enemies in the region are exiled or dead. I know I made certain of a few of them." Those few years after the last battle at Orvere, not the event with Jorn but the previous one, had been full of bloodshed. Quite a few people died in their sleep thanks to Kerrak and the Companions.
"You. Look at what you have done to Myrken in such a short time, hrm? You have spoken to those who have lived here for ages. Aside from Catch, and that nasty business with Aeryn, when was the last incursion of dark nonsense? The Drow, as insidious and vile as they are, have left us alone. There are no monsters randomly slaying the people. Sure, you stand on the foundations started by others, but it is because you took the initiative." Kerrak only had vague memories of Calomel, the very wisps of them. Here he is waving a hand.
"And you, like him, draw people to you. Oh, you may have coerced a few of them into service, but there are others yes? That serve because it is right? I am even sure a few of them actually like you for it as well." A grin with that, slight and humorous. "Anyway. Sorry if it offends to be likened to the Hawk, Mister Burnie. It is not meant as a slight... So then. Meadowford it is. It may be nice to visit there again, aside from one, the skills of the tailors here are not quite up to my satisfaction." Again that wry smile.