People already talk about me, but it's sweet for you to be concerned about my reputation. There's nothing they could say about me now that could possibly be any worse if they saw you in my company.

[ And now she's the one putting on an act, her voice sweet like she doesn't actually care about the gossip, like it hasn't felt like a knife slipping between her ribs each time she's overheard someone calling her names when they didn't realize she was close enough to hear them. With her head held high, she acts like none of that could possibly matter to her.

She shrugs easily and smiles, the perfect picture of the heroine who effortlessly rises above the hurtful things people say, unaffected entirely by them. If he caught her in the moment, listening to a pair of soldiers saying she didn't belong here, she might not be able to seem so unaffected. But that's not the here and now. ]

Besides, you're my house leader. It's natural that we would spend time together.

[ As if that decides it, she slips her arm through the crook of his elbow and leads him confidently through the monastery, the two of them walking with their heads held high like they owned the place, like anyone who might catch a glimpse of them has, in fact, been blessed simply to lay eyes on them--which they have been.

At the door to her dorm room, she releases him and unlocks the door. From the looks of it, her room is immaculately clean, everything in perfect order. ]

Here we are. Give me just a moment.