(Bug? Maybe not?) "Memory of the Deep" quest is confusing

[Blood Money]

So, you meet this farmer. He has his zombies roaming around and he doesn't know why. He tells you that they might be going to a lake.

You go to the lake and meet a giftbearer. He tells you that a piece of the moon is deep in the lake and to take it to him.

Now, you get a piece of the moon, and you have the choice of giving it to either the farmer or the giftbearer.

You go to the giftbearer with it, he says "To heal Ondra's wound, I must give it a watery grave. Commit it to the deepest, darkest ocean. She will forget it there. Will you return it? I have coin, if it would help. I can affort my boat passage. I need no more than that"

You can then suggest on a different agreement, and this is where my confusion lies. You can go: "Giftbearers deal in memories, don't they? What if you took one of mine?". So, you give him your memory, he makes you forget it, your companions comment on this... And then you still have the meteorite with you? And the giftbearer no longer wants it? You have to gift it to the farmer now? How does this make sense? I thought the idea was that instead of being given gold as a reward for the stone, he rewards you by unburdening you.

[Blood Money]

And the "Return to Giftbearer" objective shows as failed if you do this, too, I now noticed.
Can someone tell me if this quest is time limited? Can you come back to it near the end of the game?

[phadin]

It's not time limited that I'm aware of, but I think the 'took one of mine' option means taking your memory instead of taking Ondora/the meteorite. Thus the giftbearer still has something to commit to the depths and you can take the stone off to the farmer instead.

[Blood Money]

But why would a random memory be as important to him as a piece of the moon?

[Blood Money]

And if he does see it as good as the piece of the moon, then why doesn't he give gold for it? Or XP?
It just feels like such an odd part of the quest.

[archonsod]

Originally posted by Blood Money:

But why would a random memory be as important to him as a piece of the moon?

The piece of the moon isn't important to him to begin with. You're using him as a solution to your problem.
Basically the revenants are attracted to the meteorite. That poses an issue for you, since no matter where you put the meteorite the undead are going to end up there. The Giftbearer is therefore a useful tool, if you give him the meteorite he's going to go off and dump it in some deep part of the ocean - hopefully too far away for it to still affect the zombies, but worst case scenario you just end up with a bunch of undead sat on the bottom of the sea where they're unlikely to bother anyone and can safely be forgotten.
You can of course choose to give him one of your memories to dump in the ocean instead, and return the meteorite to Josep (or indeed, simply return the meteorite and ignore the Giftbearer altogether).

It's a bad idea though because, as you'll notice once you're in possession of the fragment, it's not just Josep's zombies it attracts. In fact if you do give him the fragment you'll later find him missing - presumably dead - and his farm infested).