"Now it is," she agreed, unwittingly letting herself relax a little from her Obligatorily Grumpy State. "Now that I'm calm and disciplined." She even smiled ironically, just a tiny bit. "But you should have met me when I was younger; I had a terrible temper. I was a real firecracker. If you'd even look at me the wrong way, I might clock you. And you," she gave a huff. "You, I'd've smashed up ages ago. Luckily, for you, I've grown soft in my old age."
Her smile faltered, then disappeared, at his question, however. "Well," she answered, "it would depend on how you asked. If you asked me to walk away without a word at the end of a job, before reporting back or anything. Then no, I wouldn't have. As hard as it might be for you to understand, I care about the work I've built for myself. But, if you waited for me to go back to Arca and ask for time off..." She gave a shrug, a slightly awkward gesture when she was laying flush against him. "Maybe. Maybe with someone I'd want to go away with, anyway," she half-teased. Or was it a tease? Things like this were never clear with Zahi. "But since you're not that patient, we'll never know. And, since you weren't that patient, once we get to... wherever we're going, I'll find a ship back to Serendipity. See if I can't get back in time to salvage whatever sad little life, in your eyes I'm sure, I've cobbled together for myself there."