[Connor took that brush and was slowly brushing her hair. Gently. At time, out of curiosity, he let the hair run through his fingers as he combed it. It looked so silky like fine thread; even though it was still damp. Teal was a hair color he never thought he'd see, obviously. People would surely not take it at a stride like he did where he was from. But Connor found something enchanting about it. Because it was new and unusual. Wavy and beautiful. It reminded him of the sea...

The gentle, beautiful sea. The sometimes merciless sea.

While thinking of that metaphor, Eirika probably felt like she was on the sea herself. Waiting for the land of reasoning and salvation in the distance, while braving the waters.

She knew she wasn't facing them alone. He wanted to give her the answers she wanted.]

You are alive. As am I.

[He ran the brush through again. He wasn't too bad at this. It was a way of being...intimate, for the less naive.]

I could not imagine. After a time since we first crossed paths, you did not feel like just an ally or comrade. Or a friend. I think those feelings soon faded the more I knew of you.

I did not know of how I should regard you, what kind of woman you were behind your royal airs. But you soon made that easier. You wanted me to call you of your name, not of your title. You seemed to...value my company. Wanted to know more of what kind of man I was underneath my own feats.

I think for a while, you had stirred something within me. Something of value that I could not leave behind or forget. But how to address such a feeling was something I had not known how to do.