The giant smile that had been plastered across his face since he'd seen her wilted slightly as she cast a wary look around the Menagerie. Years and years of working with magical creatures had given him some unintentional insight when dealing with people, and while he couldn't be positive, that darted gaze reminded him an awful lot of something - someone - that was used to being hunted.
Sliding a large arm over her shoulder, he nodded, forcing an air of levity back into their reunion as he hoisted his eyebrows at her and feigned offense. "You don't know how my job works? Glad to know you haven't been listening to me at all the last few times I've called. I'm kinda the boss. Which means I'm super important and I basically do whatever I want all the time and everyone has to listen to me." This was said with inflated nonchalance, though he immediately contradicted the brag in the next breath when he waved over to one of his coworkers and asked, "Hey, is it ok if I take my lunch a little early?"
The dryad paused in her task of terraforming a new section of the desert bio-sector to shrug at him. "Why're you asking me? It's not like you were doing anything anyway."
He grinned down at Aniko with a modest shrug. "See? They can't get by without me."
He kept his arm around her as they exited the tent, heading in the direction of the plantation house. "You hungry?"