His stare does not go without notice, even though she isn't facing him at the moment- spend awhile being unwillingly invisible, and you become oddly grateful of eyes gazing upon you instead of gazing through you. She turns to give the supposed stranger her usual warm greeting, smile faltering once she sees who it might be, and falling completely once her memory confirms it.

"Byrne?!"

Her incredulity echoes down the hallway, loud and obtrusive to her ears, and in her self-consciousness she covers her mouth with her hands, stepping back just once. The next phrase uttered is barely above a whisper.

"I don't understand..."

How? How is he here?! What forces could recall him from his... ascension with the other spirits? ("Death." She had almost thought "death." But that wasn't right, not according to Anjean, and the small comfort those words had brought was something Zelda held onto with all her might since then.) If this is some kind of joke, then it is a very cruel one.