"I'm nervous, too," he admitted. He's certain he didn't need to be, but feelings didn't always follow along with what he knew in his mind. That's not how feelings worked. "Feels important, ya know?" Dal wanted to make a good first impression, but there he was, all waifish and bruised.

What if she thought he only liked Gabriel because Gabriel's helped him so much? What if his shirt collar didn't cover the marks on his neck well enough and she asked what happened? What if...

Dal gave his head a little shake in an effort to clear away those kind of anxieties.

"This feels familiar," he finally murmured in a quieter, thoughtful voice. Perhaps he was remembering impressions from the night before.