"Major Seras," General Delosa said, looking up from his desk. "Thank you for coming so quickly."

     "Sir," Radolph Seras replied in a clipped, gravelly voice.

     "I need a report on the Jon Castil incident. Any idea where that traitor has fled?"

     "We're following several leads. Nothing definite yet. I can put more men on it, if you like."

     "There are a lot of people making my life miserable because of that bastard. Not sure what he stole, and I don't need to know. But I need to know where he is. And you need to find that for me, or your life will become more miserable than mine.”

     Seras clenched his jaw. “My squad on Earth has completed the probe of Castil’s starship. They found the nano-pulse weapon he used to resist arrest on the Warehouse Level. He apparently left all of his supplies when he abandoned his ship. It’s still a paradox why he would abandon the airship on that primitive road and enter the forest, leaving behind his equipment. Nothing in the  ship’s AIC or quantum databases to tell us why he went down to the planet or whom he might have intended to meet there.

     “I’ve sent several additional patrolships to fly over the forest where he was last seen, but sensors have only found wild animals. I have adjuncts interviewing the locals in all the villages near the forest. Someone must have seen him, and it won’t be difficult for my team to convince the Earth natives to share what they know.”

     General Delosa nodded, but his thin lips tightened under the gray chevron moustache.

     “We have one other minor lead. The analysis of the TraceAI reveals evidence of a second person in the airship. We’re trying to locate her now.”

     “Her?”

     “One of those party women, Rebeka Patin. He must have had her in his airship at some time. I doubt she’ll know much – you know how these glitterati are -- and she might have been entertaining him in his ship long before his escape to Earth. We’ll talk to her in due course.

     “As you know, there are reports that suggest a few Freestanders who escaped from our prison there might still be in the area. I’ve spoken to a few Guardians who were stationed at the prison as officers when it was first built. They confirmed they were unable to locate the escaped rebels before the treaty forced them to close the prison and they were recalled to Unity. The prison had been reopened later but, apparently, all Guardians assigned then perished in the earthquake that destroyed the prison two years ago.

     “According to my sources, very few Freestanders imprisoned on Earth during the three years it was operational have been seen on Unity since. The few who were surveilled are seriously injured, broken men, unlikely to still be active in the resistance.

     “I feel confident Castil is still on Earth, possibly being hidden by some of the escaped rebels or some of the Earth natives. So, the planet continues to be the focus of my resources. It won’t be long, just requires smart and steady hunting. ”

     The senior officer nodded again. “Well, keep at it. Get answers to those paradoxes of yours and find that bastard. Contact me as soon as he’s been captured.”

     Seras brought his right hand to the opposite shoulder in salute, turned and walked out.

     Oh, yes, you’ll be airlocked in my interrogation cell soon, you blasted traitor, and I will know all your secrets. Though with so many directions to follow and so many unanswered questions about why the whoreson was even on Earth, the hunt was dragging on much longer than Seras had expected. The fact that he had personally taken over the case was now widely known on the Government Level. General Delosa left no doubt about that. He needed a good outcome, and quickly. I know you’re on that barbaric planet somewhere, Jon Castil. And the longer it takes to find you, I promise, the more you are going to kuffin pay.

 

*****

 

     A UPG patrolship had flown overhead twice that day already, and Beka’s nerves were jangling. Each time, they had curled their bodies into a single crescent near the largest nearby tree, heads and hands and feet tucked to avoid appearing human in the scanners. Each time, her heart had pounded so loudly in her ears, she was afraid it could be heard on the distant ship. Each time, she realized how comforting it was to have Jon pressed against her, murmuring assurances.

     She tried to pay attention to his steady voice at her right, as he pushed aside more leaves and more branches, again and again, on their third day lost on Earth. Unrecognizable brush, towering trees, and scents of alien flowers had blurred into a familiar haze.

     "My mother and father were killed in an autocab malfunction on the Entertainment Level when I was nine," he said. "I was raised by my grandparents, my mother's parents. They were good people. They loved me. I was very lucky in that respect. But they were forced to retire, and we lived low in the Outer Sector. Not as crowded as the Community Level, but there was no one close to my age within our cluster privacy wall. So, I spent a lot of time doing my schoolvids, exploring the alleys, reading, writing stories, solving puzzles, playing AI games. And talking to myself," he added, chuckling. "A lot. I liked applied math, which made me even more of an outcast in middle grades. By tertiary school I was taller than most adults. That's when I really became a tech-geek. Developed a few AI games. Mathematics and programming helped life make sense."

     "I was lucky, too. I had a loving home. My mother was a nucleaphysics professor, my father wrote e-ware." Beka waved a hand to keep some insects away from her face.

     "Impressive. So, your mother qualified for a biohab on the Cognitum Level. Is that where you lived?”

     “Yes, for a few years. She lives in the Outer Sector now.” And cares for my most precious secret, Jonathan.

     “Who did your father work for?"

     "HRD for a while, then the government. He died before the UPG became so blatantly fascist. He also held some private patents for datanets, some API's, some tokens."

     Beka used her walking stick to part some shrubs beside her to see the glittering water a few meters below them.. The stream had become her anchor in the ebb and flow of her hope and despair, and she wanted to keep it within sight. Her mind drifted to her father's greatest development -- a maze of generative artificial intelligence he called the Vector Extelligence Ultraspace, or VEXUS. There was only one prototype of the system in existence -- in a holopod hidden inside a wall panel. In the warehouse where this bizarre situation began.

     Her father had never dreamed of using it for life and death decisions, decisions she made with the VEX nearly every day as Blueray. Her stomach clenched as she thought of it sitting untended and unused while she was there in that damn forest.

     "Beka?"

     "Oh, sor--  Uh, I was daydreaming a bit."

     "You looked sort of sick. Do you need to rest?"

     "No, I was just thinking of something unpleasant. Something I have to deal with when I get back."

     "Well, hopefully, that will be soon. And it won't be too unpleasant."

     She forced a smile, and groped for a way to change the subject. "So, you designed weapons?"

     They were steadily rising. Beka focused on one tortuous step at a time, leaning more and more on the walking stick, wary of the rough incline where she put her feet, watching for dangerous animals hiding in the endless greens and browns. The musky smells of damp soil and decaying foliage were becoming denser. She hoped they would soon descend to the stream once again. She was thirsty and wanted to rinse her stinging hands. Jon moved ahead without responding, and made an opening in a wall of brambles for them to pass through. His jacket took the worst of the thorns, but she saw him wince when a stray tendril scraped across his cheek.

     Unlike her, he was a terrible liar. Often, he simply told her what he was thinking, surprisingly unconcerned about appearing indecisive or tired. Other times, when he fell darkly silent, she'd learned to be patient until the next time he started talking to himself. In many ways, it's so easy to know him, but I still can't predict what is going on inside that sharp, complex mind.

     When he finally spoke, Beka could hear pain in his voice. She doubted it was from the new welt on his cheek.

     "I was ecstatic when I was first hired to do government research. I had access to instruments and datafiles I didn't even know existed, with unlimited credits to spend on materials. But, as I said, it didn't take long to realize my research had one objective. To make the United People's Guard so powerful they never had to deal with citizen protesters again. I tried to delay projects as long as I could. It took a very long time for me to develop a plan and find enough courage to get out."

     "I don't imagine they let many in-tech workers just quit and walk out the door."

     "No. My second year there, one of my coworkers just disappeared one day. Left work, went home to her family, and she and the family were never seen again. Nobody spoke about it. The next week, someone else was at her workstation."

     Perhaps he isn't as transparent as I thought, if he stayed in such a dangerous situation so long. Maybe he's open with his thoughts only because no one is around but me. "You had to wait for the right time to leave. That makes sense. It probably took more courage to keep showing up there every day."

     He stopped and turned to her. He stared for several seconds, then said, "It wasn't easy."

     She looked up at his face, glistening from the sun's heat and raw scrapes. "No, but you did it. And when the pieces fell together, you got out."

     He smirked. "Yeah, and look where it got me."

     She placed a hand on his arm. "You probably didn't plan on having a passenger or abandoning everything on your ship. We'll be out of this forest, eventually, and you can do what you set out to do. I heard you mention the name Nik?"

     "One of the times I talked to myself?"

     She smiled widely then. "Yeah. Are you aware when you do it?"

     "Probably not all the time." He shrugged. He turned back and resumed walking along the edge of the cliff. "Nik Silvan is one of the leaders of the Freestander underground here on Earth."

     "Here? Freestanders?"

     "I don't know a lot about it, but there was a UPG prison here a couple of years ago. Nik Silvan and some other Earthers raided it and liberated the Freestander prisoners. Some of the rebels chose to stay on Earth. Silvan's supposed to be one of the best tacticians in the rebellion. I think he's still near a village called New Vermilion. I'm hoping he can use my designs to make his people better armed and trained. Then we can provide some real support to the Freestanders on Unity. I was able to trace a signal from one of his brigade to one of the Freestander leaders on Unity. And I knew he was the one to do the right thing with my design."

     Traced the signal? Is that possible? She operated with complete trust in the VEX autoscrambler to keep Blueray’s messages secure. If someone has figured out how to trace communication among the Freestander leaders…!

     "How... how could you trace that?"

     "I'm an engineering genius, what can I say? It wasn't that hard. Especially when I was standing right next to the Freestander when the laser data was received and converted."

     She was so relieved she laughed out loud. He turned to her and grinned.

     "A friend of mine. Whom I'll probably never see again." He turned away and walked in silence for several minutes.

     She wondered what he was thinking.

     "Do you ever talk about the rebellion with your UPG party friends?"

     Aha. "The soldiers and politicians and glitterati at my parties believe I'm a vacuous, frivolous socialite, my biggest concern being which pair of shoes to buy next. Even if I said anything about the Freestanders -- which I don't -- they wouldn't take me seriously. They, on the other hand, like impressing me with their insider knowledge."

     "Do you... do you...?"

     "Do they share these secrets in bed?"

     "Sorry. It's none of my business."

     "I don't want to ever lie to you, Jon." She was surprised to hear the words leave her lips. "I mean that." He was such an open file to her, it seemed unnatural to lie to him. She refused to pretend with Jon to be someone she wasn't, the way she pretended nearly every day, with nearly everyone. "But there are some things I can't talk to you about."

     The frown on Jon's face morphed into a look of astonishment as he pushed a thick wall of brambles away. Beyond the bushes, the trees opened to reveal a panorama of pale blue sky, with gray hills in the distance. She stepped closer to him and followed his gaze downward. The ground where they stood had an enormous fissure, open to the level of the stream far below. The forest floor resumed about two meters away and much lower than where they now stood.

     "Oh, no!" she gasped. "How are we going to get across?" 

     She turned to Jon, and found him staring down and mumbling angrily.

     "When will you stop believing things can't get worse? It's too high to climb down. Too far to jump across. If we go all the way back to the level of the stream, we'd have to wade along the cliff edge, and that won't be good for her feet. Think. Think." He turned his troubled gaze to her and stared.

     Beka pushed down a choking wave of panic. "I don't suppose cliff climbing was in that hopelessly-lost-on-the-planet course?"

     After a moment, he shook his head. He didn't smile.

     "We'll think of something. What are our options?" she asked, as calmly as she could.

     "Getting across this gap, or somehow getting down to the stream, or walking away from the stream to see if we can find the end of the crevice, or heading back to before the ground started rising."

     She nodded. "Which one do you think is the least bad? What if a ship flies overhead while we’re trying to get across?"

     He glowered at the open sky, then over the edge again. Beka leaned as far as she dared. She didn't see any way to safely climb down.

     "I think crossing here might be our best bet. But not if I can't think of a safe way to get you across. I'll need some time."

     She'd always hated heights, and even avoided using the movators that crisscrossed the Outer Atrium as much as possible. The thought of being suspended across the fissure, with the bottom so far below, made her nauseated. Jon's worsening frown told her that her fear must be showing in her face. She pushed away the horrors her imagination was playing in her mind. He will not force me to do anything, and he won't suggest anything he believes is too dangerous. The roiling in her stomach eased, and she was able to give him a small smile.

     She took his hand and squeezed it. "We'll think of something."

     He pulled her hand and held her against his broad chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and felt him stroke her back. He pressed his face against the top of her head, which calmed them both.

     "Let's sit for a while," she said, when her breathing slowed.

     He nodded and walked toward a group of thick, umber trees.

     Sitting down and getting up from the ground was becoming so painful for Beka, she almost preferred to stay standing. She didn't see any good places to sit, no convenient logs or stumps or boulders. She was so tired she had no choice but to follow him. He held her elbow as she half-fell beneath the boughs of one of the trees. Then he dropped heavily down beside her and closed his eyes.

     "How are you doing?" she asked. 

     He raised his head to look at her and shook off his tired expression.

     "I'm all right. And you? It's getting worse?"

     She pursed her lips, refusing to let out the words that her right foot was throbbing and a dull ache held her head in a vise. He was certainly as tired and hungry and ready for this to be over with as she was. "Not too bad," she finally said. "I really don't want to have to walk back, though. Any ideas how we can get across that gap?"

     He looked toward the chasm. "I might be able to make a bridge of some sort with enough branches."

     Her throat tightened. The thought of walking -- or even crawling -- on branches across that open space terrified her. But the other options did not seem any better. If he's able to build a bridge, I will just have to cross it.

     He grabbed her hand and held it tightly. She knew he wanted to think of some miraculous way she could get across without fear and without danger. His anxiety for her seemed to be the man's only weakness. I can't do this to him.

     "I can weave some of the thinner branches and vines together, maybe make a rope, while I'm sitting here," she offered. "We can use the extra bandages to connect the larger branches. We can take them back off once we're across."

     He nodded as he considered her suggestions. "I want to walk along the edge a while, to see if the crevice ends or at least gets narrower."

     She nodded, relieved. "I like that idea."

     "You stay here. I won't go far."

     With a loud sigh, he pushed himself off the ground and held onto a tree for a moment to get his balance. Beka thought it might soon be worth the risk to eat some of the unfamiliar plants or animals.

     "I won't be long, angel. Try to rest," he told her.

     She nodded again, though her relief evaporated as he walked away. Every time she lost sight of Jon, she felt trapped by the strange trees, and panic would bubble up in her chest. Every time he moved away from her, she realized anew how much her strength and courage depended on his.

     True to his word, Jon returned after a few minutes and sat beside her again. "Well, it does get narrower. But the opposite side falls farther below this side, which means the narrower the gap gets, the farther we have to climb down."

     "I think I'd prefer to repel down rather than be suspended over that opening. We could make a ladder, if we need to, instead of a bridge."

     He nodded. "All right. Whenever you're ready, let's give it a try."

     "No point waiting," she sighed.

     Jon stood, and Beka turned onto her knees to stand, resting a hand on the tree. But pressing her damaged foot to the ground to push her body up was more than she could face. "I... I don't think I can get up."

     He stepped closer to her. "We can just rest here for a while."

     "I'm getting pretty thirsty," she said.

     "Good point. We won't have water as long as we stay up here." He stared down at her. "I think I can just lift you straight up.”

     It won't hurt to try. At least, not hurt any worse than trying to stand. She nodded.

     He bent to place his hands on her sides. "Hold on to my arms," he said.

     She nodded again and grabbed his forearms. Her breath was coming faster, and he could hear it.

     "It'll be okay. I won't let you fall, I promise. Just relax and let me do the work."

     She closed her eyes and remembered the many times he had supported her over the past three days, the many times he'd put her comfort above his own. Thoughts of his kindnesses, big and small, calmed her. "Okay, I'm ready." She looked up into his steady bronze eyes.

     In one strong, swift move, he pulled her up onto her feet and against his body.

     She pressed against him longer than she needed to, drawing comfort from the many dimensions of his strength. "How is it, no matter what I do or say, no matter how much help I need, no matter how much you do to make things easier for me, you don't make me feel weak or helpless?"

     "That's because you're neither weak nor helpless. Even though you are still the most uncomplaining person I've ever met, I'm glad you can be honest with me when you need help. And I'm glad I can find ways to make this disaster a bit easier for you."

     "You do." She looked up into his eyes. "The way you take my arm when I stumble. The way you care for my injuries. The way you notice when I'm tired or limping or shivering. You are incredibly kind, and I want you to know I appreciate it."

     He raised a hand to her cheek. Then he kissed her, and her anxiety and pain melted away. His arms around her, his lips firm and warm on hers, made her feel this strange place was exactly where she belonged. She wished she could stay in his embrace forever. But I can’t.

     She was able to give him a genuine smile, then she took a step back. "Ready to try one more impossible thing?"

     He nodded and took a deep breath. He led her away from the stream until they found an area where he thought they could climb down. A few tree roots protruded from the dirt, which Jon felt they could use as handholds instead of depleting their energy to collect branches and tie them together.

     "You should go first," Jon suggested. "I can hold onto your wrists until you can grab those roots."

     Beka held her breath as she looked down the sheer cliff. I can do this. She trusted him to do whatever he could to help her get down safely. She sat on the ground, letting her feet dangle over the edge, just to get used to the idea.

     "Here, I'm going to tie a knot in each of these sleeves," he said, removing the jacket from around his waist. "That will give me a way to hold onto you even after I can't reach your wrists."

     She nodded, her fear making words impossible.

     "Here, bae, put your hand through this loop. I'll be holding the other sleeve until you tell me to let go, I swear to you."

     Her anxiety had spread into him again. He needs his strength and clear thinking, now. We both need it. I have to do this. She took a deep breath and turned onto her knees, with her back to the cliff edge. She put her hand through the knotted sleeve he held toward her, and grabbed the fabric tightly.

     He wrapped a strip of his undershirt several times around the sleeve knot encircling her wrist. With the other knotted sleeve around his forearm, he grabbed both of her wrists. His eyes searched her face, his brows drawn together.

     "I think this will work, Jon," she said. "I just need to... not think about it too much."

     He gave her a crooked grin, then kissed her hard on the mouth. "You are amazing."

     "Well, let's not jump to any conclusions. I haven't even gotten my knees over the edge, yet."

     "Take your time, angel. Whenever you're ready, just lie down on your stomach and crawl back. I'll hold your wrists, and we're connected with the jacket, too."

     She pinched her lips and followed his directions. As she inched backwards, he lay down near her, keeping a firm hold on her wrists as they moved closer to the edge. When her hips went off the edge, Beka felt her heart was truly going to stop beating. But after a moment of vertigo, she focused on Jon's hands around her wrists and moved more of her body off the cliff. 

     Her feet bumped into uneven ridges, and feeling something under her toes gave her a measure of confidence. She grabbed one of the exposed tree roots. She pulled to be sure it was securely anchored in the cliff face.

     "Okay, let… let go… of my hands. I can hold on… to these, now."

He released the hand secured with the knotted sleeve jacket. Beka swayed a bit, and she was unable to stifle a scream. She quickly grabbed a root in each hand and pressed the toes of the boots into the earth. She focused on slowing down her breath. After a moment, Jon released her other wrist. She was too afraid to swivel her head much, but she knew he was up there, holding on to the other end of the jacket. She knew he would not let go. 

     She moved one hand to grab a root farther down and kicked her foot to create another hold in the rugged cliff face. She repeated the movements and lowered herself farther.

     "You're getting too far down for me to hold onto the jacket. But you're only about a meter above the opposite side, so I think you can just jump down from there. There’s still a gap between the two faces, so don't jump over sooner than you have to. Are you ready for me to let go?"

     She was near the ends of the hanging roots, but they were still holding firm. She found the cliff was not as vertical as it had looked from above, and she’d had no trouble finding shallow ledges for her feet. "Yes. Go."

     She had a bad moment as the weight of the jacket fell onto her shoulder. But her confidence grew as she successfully lowered herself, decimeter by decimeter.

     "Okay, the other side is right below you," Jon called down. "If you reach one leg back, you should be able to feel it. Be careful; don't rush."

     She bent her right knee to feel for the ground beyond the gap. She breathed a sigh of relief as the toe of her boot bumped the other side. She slowly turned her head and saw it would be an easy jump across, if she could push off hard enough.

     She took a deep breath and threw herself away from the cliffside, releasing the roots. She stumbled and landed on her hip, but she was across. She smiled up to find Jon watching anxiously over the edge of the cliff.

     "You are amazing!" he yelled, then laughed out loud.

     She allowed herself a moment of satisfaction, as she unwrapped the sleeve from her wrist. Then she yelled up to him, "How can I help you get down?"

     "I'll be all right. If the roots will hold me, I'll use them. Otherwise, I'll try to find some fingerholds until I can just jump across."

     "Please don't hurt yourself. I don't think I could bear it, seriously, if you were injured."

     He tossed her walking stick down to the ground a few meters from her. He disappeared for a moment, then she saw his legs dangle farther and farther over the edge. She felt nearly as frightened watching him as she had felt on her own climb down. Her breath became shallow gasps. But in a few minutes, he was sprawled on the ground beside her.

     She reached for him, and hugged him against her. She was so glad -- so glad! -- to feel his solid warmth pressed against her. He held her as tightly as she grabbed him. She blinked back tears and bathed in the relief of having him near again.

     When they finally felt reassured enough, they released each other.

     She said, “I hope I never have to do that again in my lifetime.”

     He grinned. “Me, too.”

     They stared down the gap between the two levels. Beka could see the stream to her right.

     "From here, it looks like only another three or four meters down to the level of the stream," Jon said. "We could climb all the way down, I think. Or we could take a chance this side slopes down gradually, and just keep walking."

     "I'm really thirsty. But I don't think we should risk getting hurt by trying to climb down there, now that we have a choice. And there are no roots to hold on to. If the ground doesn't slope downward soon, we can always just climb down the cliff at a later point."

     He nodded. "Makes sense."

     They were relieved to find the ground did, in fact, descend as they walked farther into the trees. Branches once again blocked the immense sky, and the burbling stream became accessible again.

     Jon moved to the water's edge and sat on the ground. Beka was glad for a chance to ease the throbbing in her back and hips and feet, and sat on a flat stump a little distance away from him. She watched as he laid his jacket beside him, then turned and washed the dirt and blood from his hands. He dripped water onto his face, then wiped at it wearily. He cupped one large hand in the water for a drink.

     Every hour they spent together, she learned more about him, more she admired and trusted. Can I trust him enough to tell him everything? Jonathan? Blueray? The VEX? No, I can't. I won't. It's not worth the risk. The decision saddened her.

     She gripped the staff carefully, her fingers and palm still stinging from holding onto the roots. She pushed herself up and limped toward him.

     Once they'd both taken what refreshment they could from the water, he sat beside her, resting his arms across his raised knees. "What I asked before... I think," he began, hesitantly. "I think, like you told me, sometimes it takes more courage to keep showing up. You seem to be playing with fire at those UPG parties. I don't blame you for doing whatever it takes to keep yourself safe."

     "I..." She was taken aback by his empathy. "I've never had sex with any of them, I swear to you, Jon. It's not like that. But that's all I can say about it."

     He nodded to her and stood. Then he reached his arms to hold onto her sides and, at her nod, he lifted her until she could stand.

     The contact of their bodies was electric. Beka's breath caught as she looked up into his flashing brown eyes. Talking about having sex with other men brought her feelings for Jon brimming to the surface. An ache to feel his arms around her surged through her body. She needed to feel his forgiveness for her secrets, for catering to the Guardians, for all the lies she had told, the people she had manipulated. She placed her hands on his bristly cheeks and pulled his mouth down to hers.

     With a soft groan, he wrapped his arms around her back and pressed her body to his. His kiss, which had begun sweet and clear as the water they had drunk, ripened into a hot exploration of her mouth. She gripped the back of his neck to encourage him to seek for more. She wanted the kiss to go on forever.

     His hands caressed her back, her butt, pulling her ever more tightly against him. She could feel the hardness of him press into the heat of her body. Grace, his mouth feels so good. All of him feels so good. She felt a pang of disappointment when he angled his body away.

     He rested his forehead on hers, his breathing ragged. He whispered her name, and she could hear his regret. Her thoughts swirled, wanting him to kiss her again, but knowing that another kiss like that one would leave her weak when she needed to be strong. They needed to keep moving.

     She didn't know if the regret in Jon's voice was for kissing her or for stopping. But she knew she would have regrets if she didn't get herself under control. She lowered her hands to make fists against her thighs.

     He kissed her forehead, then slowly moved his hands from her back. The loss of his strong embrace left her unsteady, and she swayed. As had happened so many times in the past three days, his large hands were quickly on her arms

     "You good?"

     She nodded. His sad smile brought her back to the reality of their situation. "I guess we should start walking."

     He looked up at the patches of gold and blue through the green canopy above. "I've lost track of time. We should try to find help before it gets too dark."

     Dark. The word sent a shiver through her. Surely they would reach a village, or at least the end of that interminable forest, before night fell again.

     "We'll get through this." He stroked her arm.

     "I know. I just don't want another night on that cold ground. But, at least, the UPG seem to be flying elsewhere. And it's not raining."

     He chuckled. "Yeah, rain would just ruin my day." He held her elbow as they walked away.