"Hate you? No! How could I? Why would I?" gasped Merrion. Hate her? The idea was preposterous. For something like this? It was her who should be hating him! "This ruins nothing--" Oh, it probably ruined everything, and he was doing everything all wrong. This was a disaster, and it was all his fault; Owena had been so much better at rejecting him! She'd even made him laugh--how can he possibly make Quen laugh now? "--nothing. We're... we're still friends, aren't we?" He wouldn't blame Quen if she didn't want to be, though his heart broke a little at the prospect.