He felt his panic ebbing away slowly but surely, his breathing coming that little bit easier, hands unclenching as he moved to sit down.
"I... I just didn't... I didn't want them to know," he said softly. Them, like they weren't his own people. Never had felt like they were, after all. He'd wanted a quiet life, hadn't he? That was why he'd run, why he'd settled here, after all.