Nikolai didn't speak for a long moment. She had intruded, he supposed. But he hadn't actively sought to be alone either. It was hard to build a fire in the middle of a city and not get called out by police about it. They were very touchy about things catching on fire and it was neigh impossible to explain that he could control the fire and only burn what he wanted without getting in trouble with the powers that be.
"Вы этого не сделали." He shook his head. She had given no indication that she had understood his Russian, but that didn't matter. He loathed speaking English and wouldn't unless asked to. And even then, sometimes, it was simply too much of an imposition. He had two judges and three lawyers completely convinced he spoke not a word of it at two of his hearings. That amused him for some time while he was in prison too.