[The more he pets, the more the dog leans, so Balthazar finds it necessary to shift position, resting on one knee.]

I suppose I keep hoping there's a reason for everything, even if I don't like that reason. That's not faith, is it? I thought I'd run out of faith a while back.

[Possibly it's more like desperation, but whatever.]

You think there might be a way to bypass the memory loss, then? That would be significant.