"Yes -- " that's accompanied by a crooked smile, " -- waiting until morning would be far more preferable for all of us, I think."

Fiona looks to Alistair, then. A bit more hesitant, perhaps a little more gentle, she asks, "Will Commander Cullen be joining us as well?"

It's a good thing Gru's right there: Alistair busies himself with giving the mabari a thorough rub behind the ears. "Not Commander any more," he says, in a wry mirror of Fiona's earlier statement. "He'll, ah. He'll be back late tonight. And possibly gone by early morning."

He could ask Cullen to stay tomorrow. Just for this. Just for this much. But if he asks, Cullen will almost certainly feel obligated to stay despite his own discomfort, and --

I don't want to face this alone, he thinks.

"We'll see."