For someone who normally despised any amount of physical contact in a near visceral way, the sudden separation from her felt awful. They were still connected in the Force, he could still feel her there as much as he had before they'd first touched, but there was a distinct absence he now felt too with the retraction of her hand from his. He resented it. He loathed it even, as much as Kyle loathed anything in this life.
Kyle didn't attempt to stop her from pulling away, but after her hand slipped out of his grasp, his stayed where it was for a second longer before Kyle swallowed and pulled his own hand back to rest on his knee. The absence of her touch shouldn't affect him so profoundly and yet it had, but Kyle didn't know why. If it was simply just another truth about the connection they shared that neither of them understood fully, or if he had simply been neglecting his training. Nothing made sense to him.
Except, of course, when her hand had fallen to his.
Without possessing all the knowledge and understanding of the dyad at his fingertips in that moment, Kyle already knew one thing for certain. They really were stronger together. Their predecessors hadn't had the chance to explore their bond to its fullest potential but Kyle was certain now more than ever that he'd been right. There was still so much more to what they were capable of. He should have felt resentment, realizing with such certainty that he would never be able to achieve as much power on his own, but he didn't. He only felt more determined to explore it with her.
Her question still caught him off guard, and for a moment, Kyle didn't know what to say. He knew what he should say, if he really wanted to keep her at a distance. She was already too close, and letting her in further had the potential for as much risk as it did something to gain. Before, he would have even questioned her motives, so quick to distrust and assume the worst in others that it never would have occurred to him that she could be genuine in her intent. It didn't take much for Kyle to feel how pure her intentions were in the question and he could hardly bear it.
The idea of friendship was so absurd to him that he could hardly take it seriously, a luxury of some kind that Kyle had always thought of as something that wasn't for him. His life, as much as it often mirrored his reincarnate's, was far from the same. He'd taken different paths to get to where he was, and having friends wasn't the sort of thing that someone like him could afford to keep. Or want to. At least, that's what he told himself as he sat there trying to silently justify his reaction to her.
He opened his mouth, prepared to deny the offer out of self-preservation, but that's not what ended up coming out. "Yes. If you're offering." A strange sadness flickered across his features, that she might actually want to be his friend touching some small part of him he thought he'd long since buried. Kyle still looked back at her steadily, silently convincing himself that if his friendship with Freya meant that she learned to trust him, then the decision was more than justified.
At least, that's what he told himself was the main motivation for his answer. All thoughts of loneliness and a long buried need for some semblance of companionship were things he fiercely chose not to entertain. He was surrounded by people who were only one move away from becoming his enemies, and yet she wanted to be his friend. Looking at her more closely, Kyle noticed the way her eyes were drooping even as they maintained contact and made an obvious observation. "You're tired."