on the subject of gale's relationship with love, i find it curious when he says, "to know that you love me for the man i am and not the magic i command—none have loved me so purely before."
it's tempting to jump to the conclusion that gale has never felt loved for who he is, but like...magic was such a large part of his identity for his entire life. he has never been without his magic. perhaps it was impossible for him to even think of anyone loving him without it.
loving gale as he is when you meet him was simply incomprehensible to him, i think. he was no less of a scholar, but as a wizard he had fallen from mystra's graces as her chosen to being a near-powerless recluse in a tower with only a tressym for company. like damn if that isn't a blow to the ego. and yet you're in love with this version of him—just gale, with none of the pomp and glory of Gale of Waterdeep.
none have loved him as he is because he had never been without his magic, and he's always defined himself, first and foremost, by his magical prowess. with you on the road, tadpole in his head and thoroughly underbathed, he hadn't even the power that he did at five years old, and yet you love him anyway? you love him as he is, not as the competent wizard but as the man, gale dekarios, and i think that's just...eye-opening for him.
