With Ma'tanza putting her guard up, Tzirret decided to back off from the issue. He didn't want to upset her. "Okay," he said, before promptly realising that he had anything to talk about. He let the orange on the horizon fade into a pink again as the stars started to make their appearance.

After a while, Tzirret gave up on trying to find something to talk about and just let the nice feeling of being close to Ma'tanza wash over him. He dared not let her go, not only because of the feelings, but also because of the dropping temperature. It eventually got cold enough that he knew they would both want to head back into the clanhome soon. With all the desire swirling around his core and making his shoulders feel tense, he felt like he was at the shore of the Larsius river again. He couldn't exactly admit his love and expect a better result here, but he had to do something while he still had time.

"Um..." Even trying to think of how to approach the situation was causing Tzirret's heart to beat faster. He began breathing uneasily and separated himself from Ma'tanza in an effort to hide it, even though she would have noticed by now anyway. "Ma'tanza," Tzirret let his hands slide down to her forearms, "L-look, um...Tzirret knows that he has been awkward and...mm...well, uncomfortable much of the time. But, Ma'tanza has been patient with him." Tzirret slowly breathed in, "She did not brush him away, she comforted his worries, and...he just wants to say that...he really appreciates it. And...yes, you hear everyone call you beautiful all the time, but Tzirret got to see that there are other pieces of beauty in you that others might not see. They make you...he said it before, everything he wishes to be himself. As well, he learned that she understands people. You look past people's first impression, you...you see them for more than they are. Tzirret thinks that is wonderful, and...he gets encouraged by that, like he isn't just a nervous wreck...and...he just really likes you, and..."

As Tzirret trailed off, he looked quite worried. He found his right hand coming up to hold Ma'tanza under her cheek and started to draw her closer, before stopping. He really wanted to kiss her, more than anything else in Mundus. Unfortunately, in his escalation, he had become so nervous that he didn't know whether he could do it. He started to contemplate just finishing his sentence with something along the lines of 'thank you for coming here with this one.' That was, unless he got one last shot of encouragement.

[hr]
Gallus widened his eyes as Ri'vashi virtually disappeared from out of the way of his counter attack and reappeared in prime position to knock him down. Before Gallus could step to compensate, he stumbled back and fell onto his backside with a surprised frown. Thankfully, the sand padded his fall. That would mean a few less bruises than if he had been sparring on the cold, hard floor of the Bruma clanhome's main chamber.

"Ah, I misinterpreted then," Gallus said as he got up off the ground and dusted himself off. "So, Dro'cahi is not as good of a good military leader. Is that correct?" Gallus let out an exasperated breath and fell into a guard again. He wasn't quite sure how he could win against Ri'vashi, with how skilled a warrior she was. At least not without a dirty trick. Gallus advanced, on the offensive this time, immediately stepping up to knock aside or trap Ri'vashi's sword, take an intentionally wild swing at the front of her head to make her blink, and then duck off to one side to cut her upper legs before she found him again. It was not guaranteed to work, but he wanted to test just how far her perceptions went.

"What do you think Dro'cahi would do if he took the reins of the warriors here in this clan?" Gallus asked.