He practically beams when she laughs, the embarrassment of a moment ago easily forgotten in light of the fact she appreciated one of his jokes.

“Yes, it was,” he agrees, sounding almost surprised. And while he’s certainly had various kinds of excitement relatively recently, it hasn’t always been so… amiable.

It’s probably because of her, he realizes suddenly. Lioriley is an intelligent person, and good natured enough to handle all the ridiculousness they’ve just been through and laugh it off afterwards. With another sort of person, this day might have been simply frustrating, but instead he finds he’s rather pleased with how it all went.

“Thank you for inviting me along,” he says. “If I’d tried doing this alone, I don’t think it would have worked out as well.”