[It's hard to accept a gift given freely, and he takes back the knife to tap it against his hand. He stares at one side of the blade, then the other. He has no idea what these runes are- just that he has to trust that they will work.]

Thank you.

[He'll go ahead and accept it as a gesture of kindness. Though subconsciously her knows he'll have to find a way to pay her back one day.]

This probably sounds stupid, coming from someone like me. [Someone who has a scar through his eyebrow and flecks of damage from grenades. Someone who has a hardened face that looks older than it's thirty years just because of the strain of war and constant conflict and hard work. Someone like him.] Why is there no way to compromise this? No middle ground?