Caleb comes from a ...certain background; the necessity of repeating which is this: it's inescapable, as much as Meminisse is supposed to be exactly that, and where he came from if someone gave a girl a hard time, especially if it was a girl a person was friendly with, such a situation was generally solved with uh, punching.
So there may be another more applicable word than heroic ('dumb,') but he just shrugs, wry. "Yeah," he agrees, of magical and its newness, even if he's had a couple of years to adjust, "I have this feeling, though - and my major is all about vague feelings when it's not about seriously fucking disturbing dreams, so you can't fault me on this - I think you'll be okay. I mean, look at you, this is coping, right?"