When she turned sharply toward him, Ruli froze, realizing right away he'd stuck his foot in his mouth and fucked up their chemistry. Tense, he watched her face as she answered, understanding, in part, her words on having her life pushed and pulled by others. "I'm sorry." He said, looking away again. "No, I ... I mean, sure. We can see." Which made him all the more uneasy. What if he developed feelings for her? And she turned around to bed someone else, someone of her class, her world? Ruli watched the water, already feeling the walls in his head rise to protect himself.

After another pause, he sighed again. "We should probably head back to Úvano. Someone's bound to have noticed we're gone at this point." He was suddenly very intrigued by his thumbnail, using his fingernail to clean the non-existing grime beneath it.