He'd raked a hand through his hair, just like he'd done a short while ago as they'd stood by the horses – well, as he'd stood by the horses and she'd clung to her reins in a desperate bid to stay upright.
"Jane –" his eyes had still appeared to be focused on something just past her right shoulder; he hadn't actually been looking at her at all. Not really. "If you would just tell –"
"No!" It had burst out of her before she could control it. She was just so panicked by his new demeanor, this terrifying new sense of detachment that he was projecting.
She'd been reeling already from her collapse – she'd been shocked, and scared, almost beyond reason from that alone, and now this – now this –
She'd had no ability to cope with this, it had been… just utterly beyond her reach. She was out past her depth and she was drowning. So she'd shut down and in doing so, had lost what had been perhaps her last chance to ask for help.
"There is nothing to tell, nothing happened, I tripped, it was stupid, I – I –" she'd realized that her breaths were piling up; she'd been perilously close to bursting into tears. "I am fine, there is nothing wrong, there is nothing wrong."
He'd looked at her then, truly looked at her for the first time in this whole bizarre and frightening exchange, and it was the most intense, searching gaze he'd ever levelled on her.
"If something were wrong, Jane," He'd asked, quietly but with the same burning intensity that was in his eyes, "would you tell me?"
She'd opened her mouth but no words had come. All that had wanted to come were sobs, so she'd clamped it shut again, turned her head away from him and slammed her eyes closed against the tears that had been threatening.
Consequently she hadn't seen him get to his feet, but she'd understood that's what had happened when he spoke again, because his voice had no longer been coming from the same level of space that she occupied. He'd been speaking down to her, both literally and figuatively. Speaking down to her in every sense of the word.
"All right." His voice had been flat; emotionless. "If that is how things are, I cannot change your mind, and I am not going to try any longer. I think it is very clear that this kind of assignment is… not suited to your abilities. I do not think you should be given any such tasks in the future. If we are sent back out again to hunt the outlaws further, I do not think you should be a member of the group. You are not… fit for this kind of work. And I intend to make my concerns known to the king, at length, immediately upon our return tomorrow. I just thought you should know. And about the watches tonight - you need not bother. The rest of us can handle it. Just... just go to bed, Jane."
And he'd turned and walked away.