"I'll be sure to stroke it some later to make up for the bruising," she countered wryly, batting lightly at his hand when he tugged on her curls. "Am I avoiding it? Hmm. Maybe you're getting better at this interrogation thing after all."

She fell silent for a moment, a long moment, staring off across the room at nothing in particular. When she spoke again, her voice was quiet, subdued.

"We did what we thought we needed to do. We chose the best option out of the ones given to us."