He chuckles quietly, lifting one shoulder in a laconic shrug.

"That's why I was chosen to guard you," he says, his tone so mild it's impossible to tell if he is making a joke or not. "I was once a monk, after all."

That is not quite true. He was a novitiate, hadn't quite gotten around to taking his vows yet, but he was almost all the way to becoming a proper monk at the Temple, dedicating his life to the study of the Way and good deeds done to benefit the community.