[ Everything between them was already awkward. At least it was the benign sort, where he occasionally tripped over his tongue or lost his nerve, or found himself staring overlong and missed hearing something one of the scouts had brought to him. These were relatively minor things in the course of a day, even if they left him wondering when she might finally drive him mad.

No. It would be the fault of this...infatuation, not hers. He knew better than that. ]

I do what I can.

[ Humor creased the edges of his eyes before he paused, apparently weighing the options of his next words. Were he standing, he'd likely be moving about as was generally his wont, restless in the uncertainty of it all.

Instead he lifted her hand, looking to her in earnest. ]

...there is, in fact, no thing I could think of that I would not do if you. asked it of me. You know this, yes?