If either of them tightens their grip further they will cut off their circulation. This does not deter Haleth.

With her free hand she reaches out and touches his face lightly, the barest hint of a caress. "I too am stubborn," she says, "but can admit when I have been wrong. Even before Canien's coming, I knew how I missed you. I have told myself again and again we were better remaining apart, in our different lives. But we are not. Or I am not."

There is a wistfulness in her eyes now, an open longing. "I have tried to make the Haladin my only priority, and they must remain the first--but I would make space for you as well, if you will allow it."