Herbalists' Cache perjury and defamation

Being a native himself, Valiant had to smirk at his cousin's words. He understood the question, however, and opened his mouth to answer: "Well..."

And then abruptly realized that he could not, under any circumstances, tell Brave about how he'd met a really pretty man. Still, he was bursting with the news — even though there was not much to say, on that front. "There's this... girl. Her name's Baby, and she's really, really beautiful," he said, feeling sick and ashamed both over the subterfuge, and his stupid attraction. "And it seems like... like maybe she likes me back," he added, his heart turning over in his chest.

Perhaps he should've kept his mouth shut after all. He let out a breath disguised as a laugh. "But I mean — it was stupid, really. I don't think it'll amount to anything."

It couldn't. He had to put all this behind him.