"Whether he does or not, I need to be ready to deal with it."
Lessa stopped mid-step, uncertainty in her soft, silver stare. "We've been spending a lot of time together lately, and…" She sighed, visibly self-conscious. "I'm not getting in your way, am I? I don't like thinking that you might get hurt one day because you spent time with me instead of focusing on your studies."
"You're still thinking about what Master said?" He grabbed her hand and led them onward, converting all of the snow on the next twenty paces of pathway into water and then gathering it into a ball that he dropped into the frozen confines of a nearby fountain. "Don't pay him any mind. He only thinks about fighting, drinking and eating, so of course he would look at a girl as a distraction."
"But he seemed so displeased."
"That's just how he is. Actually, I'd say that he was in quite a good mood today."
"All he did was critique and complain, though?"
