He figured. It didn't hurt. He told himself it wouldn't. They'd just met, after all, but it was hard to form any kind of relationship here. The spars he'd had with others in the forge had been...impersonal. Fleeting. Fight, win or lose, nod to each other, congratulate on a well-fought match, and then part ways. Eleven had talked to him. Listened to him talk. They'd gone out to do something that wasn't training, even if that "something" was commit atrocities on a hapless windhopper. That meant something to him.

But he came to the same conclusion as Eleven. This was fleeting. They had long lives ahead of each other apart. Well...his might not be long. How long will I last? It was becoming a persistent thought.

He nodded. "That's okay. I wouldn't blame you." But he didn't want her to forget him. Or...anyone that he'd spoken to, met with. Trained with. He had so little time.

Small eyes widened, however, and a bit of hope blossomed. "Oh, really? Wow. So we could just go look at the surface whenever?" He looked around, as if he would be able to see it from here. "Maybe we should go look. So then I can know what the place looks like. And I'll find it when I'm up there."

It must not be an "official" part of the cave, then, if Valkhounds weren't allowed through. He wondered if Vargas knew about it, if he'd ever been. He probably couldn't get through either, though.

"They'll let us in. I mean we're not gonna do anything bad. Just look. And then come back." He wondered why they weren't allowed. Wouldn't Valkhounds have more authority then regular gembound? He didn't know how things worked and he really didn't have the time to stick his nose too far into it.

"Do you know where it is? Or do we need to look?"

Oh, so they weren't telling Master Vargas about this. That did make sense to him, he was supposed to leave and not come back. With the "not come back" potentially meaning go out there and die or whatever. He was going to be thinking about that a lot for the next few cycles.

"Okay. I hope they let us through. I mean...it's for a good purpose, right? It's not like we're gonna do anything bad just...see each other again maybe. Yeah." He still wasn't sure how he was going to signal to Eleven that he was coming to the portal or whatever it was, maybe that was something they could figure out on the outside.

He looked around again. "You think its around here? Or another cave? I haven't been anywhere else, I'm not really allowed."