Joking around came as naturally to Constans as did surrounding himself with people who appreciated it, so the discovery that his goofing caused Bethen to shut up like a clam came as something of a surprise. He'd briefly managed to forget that she was a massive nerd, and found that he didn't quite know what to do with her now because of it.
He'd saved her too, she said? Well, yeah, and a part of him was increasingly happy to take the credit for that now that the danger had passed and the girl was retreating back into her shell, but... he found that he didn't want to be boastful, that for once it felt strange, wrong, to consider taking credit he didn't entirely deserve. They probably should have done nothing, after all, or gone to the doors and waited for the Senior Enchanter instead of chasing after mysterious noises. It wouldn't have been any fun, and frankly it hadn't even occurred as an option to Constans at the time, but that's what normal, boring, safe people did in times like these wasn't it? Bethen had wanted to do the safe thing, he figured; of course she had, she was Bethen. But she'd gone along with him anyway, and on his account she'd been battered and bruised and nearly eaten, and had still managed to pull him out of the figurative fire a couple of times before he'd managed to start a literal one.
So just this once, instead of withdrawing his interest when she withdrew into herself in shyness, he found he wanted to coax her out again.
He smiled at Bethen when she finished, no self-important smirk per usual but something subtler, genuine. There was no real way to brush off her thanks, the way he felt strangely that he ought to, yet also be polite, so he said simply, "Well, for whatever my help was actually worth... you're welcome."
His back was turned on the door into the hallway now, but he could hear a couple of pairs of mage-feet approaching as a businesslike clip. Templars thudded, mages pattered. Odds were on it being Alden, back with one of the healers to look at the pair of them. He cleared his throat a little and added before the Enchanters could barge in, "'Maybe' nothing though, the fire was some really dumb shit, I'll own up to it. I just always fall back on elemental magic whenever I'm rushed, it's so much- easier."
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair without managing to make it any less unruly, pausing for a brief moment in uncertainty. Would he regret this weird, charitable impulse later on?
"You've been working with glyphs, right? You always get the highest marks, and mine could really use some work. If I felt more solid about them I'd have used them back there. I, uh- do you want to study together sometime...? Desi and I were going to spend some time practicing together tonight, and you could come. If you wanted." He watched her nervously for a reaction. This peacemaking stuff just wasn't his forte.