Koe wanted to explain to her that love was just an expression of something deeper, a bond, and that love as it was currently expressed could signify almost any depth of connection. Those who were in love and fell out of love had no such connection, or at least not a strong one. You could lust after someone for the whole of your life - even after you'd married them, in fact - but if you did not have that bond then love was meaningless. He could have asked her outright what she felt for Ithacles and had done with it, but even if he had, she would not have been able to tell him. Koe did not know if that was from the lack of a true bond or if she was honestly confused about her feelings. But that question would have flustered her.
And perhaps some small part of him did not want to know.
"No," Koe finally answered her. "I am telling you not to waste your years, however long they may be, trying to decide what to do. A life should be lived with authority and verve!"
His last exclamation was perhaps a bit too much, but there was nothing in his tone that suggested a scolding. Koe didn't know how much longer the pair of them would be able to sit here in this forest and talk honestly of those things which could be honestly discussed. Or how long either of them was going to live. But he did know that there was something to be said for giving an honest assessment of one's friends. Insofar as honest assessments could go before they devolved into cruelty. He had no wish to be cruel to her, or to make it seem as though he were jealous - or even that he wanted her to pick him over her life, though he mjight have. If he were honest with himself.
His friends respected him because he let them make their own choices. None of the manipulation which humans seemed to favor.
"Or maybe I've just grown old," Koe finally concluded with a weary smile. "And I don't have the energy to duel with princes, should the need arise."