[He has to blink rapidly and scrub his knuckles across his eyes before he can answer. Even then, at first he just takes a shaky breath and nods, struggling to keep it together.]

Then. Th-then, um. Thank you, Wren.

Still, don't--don't start anything. He's dangerous, and I don't want to... [After a few faltering false starts, he tries:] I don't want us to fight. There's so few of us. And maybe he really is different.