Wan shook his head and kicked his shoes off. He'd worn them only so he wouldn't get in trouble for walking bare-foot inside the school. He'd need to be able to work out toe-holds for this climb and sneakers would just get in the way.
"I'm not going to say 'I've fallen and I can't get up'. Ever," he laughed before tentatively holding his shoes out to her. "Would you mind carrying these? In your basket? I can tie them around my neck if you don't want to. It's okay."
After a second he sat down to start knotting the strings together, "I'll just do that. Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have asked."