Neverwinter Forest through the dark of night

When he was focused, Mal could be serious. He could act like stuff was normal because he was out to protect his pack and family and all that. He could box up how distressed he might feel about things and just go on because he had to. Okay. That sounds good. A nod.

The real issue was that now she was leaving. Or might be at least. Business was done, sort of, but there were still other things that hung in the air. The focus broke and he was back to being the slightly weird way he had been at the beginning, emotionally muddled but trying to not let it color his words. He didn't want her to go, but he also didn't want her to get angry at him if he did spill the beans, so he mentally flailed around a little, Not about that. But um, I do need to talk to you about some things. It's important, but it's not gonna make anyone live or die if you would rather focus on getting Donovan and whoever to go away first. It can wait a little. Besides, he still wasn't sure how to explain it all. Every starting point he could think of was confusing and awful. How could he make it okay, so that nobody ended up hurt? And honestly, some sort of physical good bye was on his mind too, but he'd feel worse if he did that knowing what he did while thinking she'd end up hating him once he stopped talking.

There just wasn't a win here.