[Liem pauses, surprised, when Hayame interrupts him to — twine their fingers together, pressing her palm against his in a way that seems so much more intimate than the careful way he'd been holding her hand previously. It's a grip that really only suits one hand, and his other falls reluctantly away as he glances from their linked hands up to her face.

She is very warm, and even if the clasp makes her face a little pink… the touch is still nice.

Despite everything, he really is blessed to have colleagues like this, who will lend him a hand when needed, even when he hasn't asked.]

Thank you, Hayame.

[Belatedly, he recalls that he hadn't even said that, when it should have been the first thing out of his lips, as soon as she reached for his hand. Even if she might have regrets later, that doesn't excuse him from expressing gratitude now.]

What do you know, actually, about the life I left behind in Taldor? The one I'll go back to one day, if we succeed.