There was a bit of relief to hear that Ma'tanza acknowledged that she was around her friends almost all of the time. Tzirret wanted to follow up on that, but he could only look at Ma'tanza and nod while he chewed his mouthful. That lead Ma'tanza to ask about what they should talk about in the first place, which caused the tiniest of panics in Tzirret's mind.

Tzirret swallowed his mouthful a little early in an effort to speak. It made it uncomfortable and he closed his eyes for a moment, but he didn't choke. "Er...we could talk..." Tzirret felt as though there would be a mental blank in his future if he tried to find a subject from scratch, so he instead defaulted to what he was thinking of earlier. He started off a little quiet, but gained confidence gradually as he spoke. "You know, this one was thinking the same thing. It is nice to talk without your friends around. I-it is not that Tzirret does not like your friends - many are his friends as well, it's just..." The corner of Tzirret's mouth twitched, "...Tzirret gets self conscious. Maybe it's Bheja and his jokes, maybe it's...he doesn't know exactly, but he always enjoys being around Ma'tanza. In front of everyone else its...he feels like he draws eyes, but up here..." Tzirret's smile returned and he reached to take Ma'tanza's hand, "...he does not worry so much." A single huff of what could be a laugh sounded from Tzirret and he looked down and forward again, "Unless this one embarrasses himself anyway."

Tzirret took another bite of his meal. He was close to finishing anyway.

After the seriousness of Ri'vashi's speech, there was a low, rhythmic laugh from Gallus' nose. He was smiling again, looking at the training dummy, but he was not laughing at the results of Ri'vashi's now clear attempts to relieve her frustration. "If I wanted professionalism, Ri'vashi, I would have left you alone as soon as I was ensured that the clan would be alright. This is all me being a prying gnat, no more, no less. Swat me away if you're sick of me."

Gallus lowered his arms and clasped them behind his back before looking up to Ri'vashi once more. "How long have you been the leader of this clan? Has this always been a cloud over you?"