( gwenaëlle does not say, I talk to you, don't I, but the sentiment is unavoidably present in the way she regards him, lips pursed. if they were in orlais, then she'd tell him he's being unattractively petulant and swan off; that she doesn't isn't because he isn't, but because his inability to express himself in a way that doesn't make him sound like a sulky prick is (she thinks) just a personality flaw rather than reflective of the importance of whatever it is about this avvar woman that bothers him so much.

it doesn't feel like the right time to tell him too much about himself. this restraint is outlined in applied friendship 101 by professor g. vauquelin. )

If I based the company I keep on my personal tastes, ( she says, bone dry, ) then I would have very little of it and almost nothing to write about.

But perhaps you're right, and she simply won't speak with me.