[He can tell that Ahito is trying to fish for reactions... but perhaps he's forgetting that Ithaqua is immune to embarrassment when Urianger is the topic.]

Have you ever lived alone? Deep in the woods, far from civilization? Done nothing but the same routine day in and day out? Wake, prepare for the next day, keep the house in order, and then sleep, to await the next day. There is no one to visit, because you live so deep into the wilderness.

[The picture he paints is vivid not because of the simple words he uses, but because they're full of what he feels when he thinks about returning to that life.

That is to say, he feels like he will expire.]

He is a large part of my motivation, but not all of it.