[It's true. She's a fish and she can't really die.

In any case, her terrible habit of letting her mouth run off because her foot is shoved to deep into it just occurred. If he decides that she's too strange, she wouldn't even blame him. Because she is. And at this moment? She's stranger yet.

And yet, all he does is treat her with patience and kindness, befitting a saint. He no longer wears his chainmail, so when he lifts her once more, she feels, simply, his warmth.

A freeze-dried mermaid could thaw this way. Her fingers clutch onto his tunic, and she hides her face.]

I apologise deeply, Haurchefant, for my outburst. Perhaps I burn too much to be consumed, as Sanguis. And yet all you do is treat me kindly. I do not deserve such patience right now.