Chihiro's reaction to the sarcasm was a bit unexpected. Something about Hilde's tone and the general feel of Varuk made the naga suspect she may have said something to bother the girl. The sarcasm was expected, the words were not. "Did I say something wrong?" The confusion was obvious. Despite her mentioning sparring with either of them, she had, as the conversation drew on, decided against sparring except with Allanon. He seemed able to handle her style with minimal risk.

She imagined Hilde might have misunderstood her intentions or words. Maybe she thought Chihiro didn't see her as a warrior despite that being far from the truth. It was exactly because she was a warrior and so determined that Chihiro wanted to shield her from harm and help her grow. The internal monologue and general conflict made the naga shift uncomfortably on between her feet, one hand grasping the forearm of her other arm, serving to almost make the proud and strong woman seem cute. It also had a side effect of drawing attention to her very luxuriously curvy and well developed features, though Chihiro was not intending to seem sexy, just showing her embarrassment and discomfort.