"Ah, no, it's fine." She had, of course, been "badly" startled, but it would be rude for Rissie to insist upon that, and it certainly didn't matter. He'd apologized, too, so obviously he was trying to be nice about the whole thing.

But even with the person who'd surprised her right there, that feeling was still stuck with her. It didn't seem to be because of this individual, though; it still felt like Smile was nearby, out to get her. It felt so much like that that she wasn't even surprised to see that horrible man watching her from across the square when she glanced (rudely) around the other Zora.

Oh dear, whoever that was wasn't as bad at tailing her as she'd hoped. Whatever hope she'd had of losing him in the crowd had obviously been false: even she, now that she was cognizant of the difference, had noticed that there were no other green Zora around at all; of course she was easy to pick out of a crowd. But she still wasn't ready to go back to her grandparents, especially not with that horrible slimey-looking man. He looked like the type who was about as likely to murder her than actually give her over unharmed (a silly idea, probably, since her grandparents probably wouldn't pay for her dead body, and the man probably wanted the pay more than anything else).

Hiding in the crowd hadn't worked. He probably knew the streets better than she did, too, so trying to run and hide wouldn't work. The only way... well, he'd stayed away so far. Was he scared to come collect her when she was surrounded by people? If so... Rissie glanced up at this convenient Zora. Could she use him as a bodyguard? Yes, that would have to work, she just had to make it look natural. Maybe pretend that he was the older brother she'd never had! Yes, that was it, she could do that.

And so, when he stuck out his hand to shake, she didn't shake it, as obviously that would be a thing for strangers to do, but she grabbed it instead and started pulling on the fellow whom she'd just decided to conscript for the temporary preservation of her newfound freedom. Pulling him directly away from Smile, of course, she smiled back at him in what she hoped was a familiar and carefree manner. "Come on, brother, let's go get something to eat!" she squealed in mock excitement, loud enough that everyone could definitely hear it. Quieter, before he could object or pull away, she said "Play along, there's an evil man chasing after me!" without changing her expression.