The snap of that impatience, the order it carries over with it, is an insult of sort. One that settles in the wake of the tenor of conversation, which Nikolai has been mostly content to turn his attention from.
But he knows immediately that Zoya will not take kindly to that. And even though Nikolai had promised himself to patience and diplomacy, to bear up under the reveal of the curse that had plagued and shamed him with good nature and ease into the hands of a man he knows nothing of, he still feels tension drawing through his body, straightening his posture. Charm has ever gotten him through most discussions of this nature: a collection of people sat around a room unsnaring a problem to satisfaction, and he reminds himself of this as he draws breath to answer—
"I'm very grateful that you'll speak alongside me to your fellows," Nikolai tells him, sincere over each word. The bright glow of a few moments earlier has ebbed. "And I am eager to hear your advice as to how to move forward, as I know I am blind to much of what is motion here already. But I hope you understand that there's no need to give me leave. I would prefer we approach this in collaboration."
A compromise, one that hopefully draws away the sting of that until I give you leave had left in it's wake.
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But he knows immediately that Zoya will not take kindly to that. And even though Nikolai had promised himself to patience and diplomacy, to bear up under the reveal of the curse that had plagued and shamed him with good nature and ease into the hands of a man he knows nothing of, he still feels tension drawing through his body, straightening his posture. Charm has ever gotten him through most discussions of this nature: a collection of people sat around a room unsnaring a problem to satisfaction, and he reminds himself of this as he draws breath to answer—
"I'm very grateful that you'll speak alongside me to your fellows," Nikolai tells him, sincere over each word. The bright glow of a few moments earlier has ebbed. "And I am eager to hear your advice as to how to move forward, as I know I am blind to much of what is motion here already. But I hope you understand that there's no need to give me leave. I would prefer we approach this in collaboration."
A compromise, one that hopefully draws away the sting of that until I give you leave had left in it's wake.