"I'd have think you'd heard of Merlin before, if nothing else, given your associations," he grins, lopsided, the one that the old Azwel would have known promises mischief. He still doesn't actually wholly claim that legacy, even now. He's still Carden, for a start, and always will be. But putting "Emrys" there is both a way to protect his family in his own world and a way to claim a bit of his other birthright in the same go.

He's thought about another name change, too, but it's still a bit too soon to discuss that.

"Mostly worried about that time has broken business," he says, casual as can be, "but the immediate threat of explosions is the more immediate concern, of course. Are you going to get attacked if we just... walk through town?" he asks, also casually, as he falls into step with him. "It was something of a war zone out there on the way in."

He's not telling the long story yet, but he's sure letting Azwel see the shape of it-- he clearly seems to know him, knows at least some of what he's been up to (not that Azwel has ever seemed... subtle about that) and clearly did just walk through said war zone just to get to him. That says something even before he starts to tell anything.