Broken Boulder if not for my shoulders

For a split-second, everything seemed okay. Then his expression changed, and he gave her a few hasty words before stalking away. "Wait, Ali--" she tried, but he was well past her already. Suddenly, the anger came back in spades, and she wheeled around, trotting after him with her eyes burning like hot torches. How dare he! This was how he repaid her kindness?

"Alarian, what the fuck?" Lily spat out a word she rarely used, drawing alongside him and moving past to stand before him. Any other male, she might have been eclipsed in size, but the Governor was small and trim, and she felt confident enough he couldn't just bowl her over, not without really meaning it.

"I've barely seen you in the last two moons. You've either been away--god knows where--or sulking. Now that we finally get a chance to catch up, and I'm trying to--damn it, Ali, I just want to help! But I can't help unless you talk to me!"