"Yes," he says, with the kind of thoughtless certainty he feels understanding Jedao's elliptical codes. "See? He'd be there for you. Even if he is kind of a slut."

He says it without any awareness of Jedao having said the same thing, but with almost the same inflection, only marred by his rough waterlogged voice and a smidgen of jealousy. But Quentin is so - good, and he was so happy, when Jedao told him about the swooning. Jedao wants it to work, obscurely and fiercely, at least for Quentin's sake. And while Jedao has no call to ever tell anyone not to want something that would hurt them - he wishes he could make the wanting itself hurt a little less.