He almost smirked when she said what he had thought about her death being temporary, but a shadow of a smirk did make itself known when she accepted blame. 
If vanished when she called him skinny. He was hardly so. Leaner than Zeke, yes, but he had plenty of muscle. She encouraged him to eat, but sat across from him, anyway. They leveled stares at one another, two stubborn wills refusing to bend. 

Her thank you really caught him off guard. He wanted to know, to ask, exactly how she planned on paying him back. A thank you was a start.
However, her words about the past sent a shiver through him, and he wondered what she knew, and [i]how[/i], before he realized she meant the fall of Ziad. 
Ruli exhaled. "You have family, too." He answered her thanks. "What would they have done if you never came back?"

He stood, arched the small of his back slightly in a stretch, then offered her his hand. "Let's go." He invited.