There was little reason not to wash off now, so Gallus proceeded to doff his armour as Ri'vashi finished up. Her mention of her occupation leaving little time for casual social interaction may have been quiet, but Gallus heard it. It made him pull a pitied expression behind her back. "Now...that is a difficult part of your role," Gallus said with no hint of levity or humour. "This might sound dreary, but I can't call that healthy. Do you really not get to mingle with your friends?"

Gallus finished disrobing within a couple of minutes and he was not so tentative about wading into the water. We walked his way in strongly and briskly until he was deep enough before he jumped forward and dove under. It was as if he didn't care about the purple splotches on his skin where he had taken the worst blows. He surface a few metres away and pushed his hair back, taking a refreshing breath. At least his good nature returned to his voice. "I won't always be around to bruise up when you're feeling stressed, clan leader!" he called out with a laugh.

[hr]
Tzirret's response to Peiter was to give him a sad smile and a tight hug. He was not exactly crying any more, but Peiter could feel the residual tears on Tzirret's face against his shoulder. He remained as such for another half a minute.

It was at that point that quiet footsteps approached carefully from behind them, joined by Sabine's voice. "I found you-" she spoke softly, stopping after seeing the red in Tzirret's eyes. "Oh, am I...interrupting? Are you alright, Tzirret?"

"Yes," Tzirret whispered while shaking his head, "He is okay." Tzirret pulled back from Peiter and looked at him gratefully.

Sabine resumed cautiously, turning her head slightly, "...I was wondering if you wanted to get some dinner." She did not appear to be directing the question to either of them in particular.

Tzirret's eyes flicked up to Sabine and back to Peiter. He put his ears half-way up, gave Peiter's shoulder a squeeze, pulled a purse-lipped smile and began to stand up. "This one will find something to eat," he said with a bit more heart as he walked away without waiting for either Peiter or Sabine.

With curious eyes, Sabine's turned to watch Tzirret walk off and then looked back to Peiter with her hands clasped together. "What happened?"