[ Oh, it's much too late to stop her from caring too much. That chance has long since passed, blown away on the wind when he carried up into the sky and snapped their picture. ]

So I've been told before.

[ Zelda is aware of her tendency to be reckless. Hell, Darin chastised her for exactly that on the day they met, when she risked an encounter with the harpies in order to try to rescue him. And he is not the first person to say so, nor is he the first person she's put herself in danger because of... and he will certainly not be the last.

The nice thing about being notably shorter than Darin is that it's easy to move into his field of view when he's trying to avoid her gaze-- which she does now, not retracting her hand. ]

You say that I barely know you and very well, I will capitulate to that. But I do know that you would not hurt me, not on purpose.

[ But she knows he'll still fight her on that, so Zelda decides to take a gamble. ]

However- [ She takes a steadying breath. ] -if you can tell me truthfully that you intentionally mean me harm, I shall stand aside and trouble you no more with my company.