"I don't think that," he admits, his voice low, tight, and his entire body tensing next to her. "I never have. I never believed that. I believed though that..."

He stops though, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter."

He has no idea how to explain to her that he's never had respect from others, and he's just been content to be involved in things, doing the right things for a community that looks down on him for being a gentle man rather than a masculine one.

Not that he thinks he has her respect either, nor does he expect it. Not even before all of this. He's quite aware of the man that he's not, and that he will forever be trying to make a place for himself and not finding it. If he can help though, that is enough.

"We should go by my home and get the things we'll need this winter. After this, they won't be surprised I don't return before the snow begins."