Even though it was not the most romantic of moments, Sabine kissed Peiter back, if only to help him feel better. Peiter's words afterwards caused Sabine to huff out of her nose and tilt her head to one side away from Peiter while looking at him. "Maybe that is the problem. Not that you are not good at magic yet, but that you do not expect you can be." Sabine brought Peiter's hand between both of hers. "You have been putting yourself down a lot. You do not need to. I think it is making you feel worse."

[hr]
Gallus took in a short breath. Ri'vashi's eyes told everything that her words didn't say. "Ah." He nodded deeply and looked around at the floor surrounding him, almost as uncomfortably as Ri'vashi was. "I was wondering if you had that night on your mind." Gallus scratched at the back of his head. "You didn't say anything about it since then, so I didn't really know." He showed a hand. "Look, if you're uncomfortable with it, we can just stay as good friends. I have been past enough relationships to treat it that way...gods, I'm that way with Uthri." Gallus was perhaps projecting too much of his own thoughts, but his nervousness spoke of conflict. "I mean, it was your first time, right? That doesn't mean we're suddenly married or anything."