Kaleeth's response caused everyone to voice a laugh combined with an ascending tone, noting the escalation with some encouragement, and suggesting what Janius was in for.

With a raised brow, Janius closed his eyes and tried to take a breath to calm down. He was silent for a few moments as he tried to recover from his stumbling words. He knew he was not being at all clever or confident, and that was bothering him. He wasn't even sure he could bring himself to reciprocate Kaleeth's affectionate contact as his mind clouded with all sorts of thoughts.

Seeing Janius in such a state brought amusement to Fendros' face. It was rare enough to see him speechless like this, let alone flustered. "You'd better watch your drink from now on, Janius," Fendros joked.

Janius did nothing but force a smile. In honesty, he really felt like a drink. Nevertheless, Fendros' comment seemed to diminish any expectation to follow up on the issue. Things had come to a head here, though. He needed to talk with someone. He decided to wait until Ariel left so as not to make a scene. "All in good time, I'm sure," he managed to say with at least some level of stability. He then reached up a hand to his shoulder to hold Kaleeth's hand and gave her a quick smile. He was still finding it hard to hide the fact that he was bothered by something.

"So, tell me of the inner marshes," Ariel asked, thinking that the topic had moved on, "few enough have been there without catching horrid diseases or being felled by a dangerous creature. I suppose that makes lycans well adapted for exploring, now that I think about it. Did you find any interesting sights?"