Bastien smiled as Rexanna told her joke and stroked his arms, breathing out a little sigh he didn't know he'd been holding in. As much as he liked being the first one arrested, liked to know he had taken a stand...until he had been with Rexanna he had not let himself admit even in his own mind that he was a little scared. Who wouldn't be? He did not know what this Zariah would do. No one did.
"Yes, though what they brought me could hardly count as food." Her next question was harder to answer and Bastien's eyes flicked over to the guard. "No, you are the first I have seen." He said, but caught her eyes with a serious stare and shook his head just slightly, enough that if you weren't looking for it you wouldn't notice. He hoped she would understand.
He knew exactly what she meant. And it worried him. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted; for Rexanna to through herself into the firing line for his sake. While at the moment it seemed Zariah was all bark and no bite, he knew dictators were often eager to spill a little blood to prove themselves. "You do not need to do that, Rexanna. I am sure it will blow over eventually, yes? All I did was ask a couple of questions. Perhaps I will ask to join the army in return for my freedom and escape that way. I do not want you to be hurt." He drew her hand just through the bars to kiss it.
Bastien
Can you hear me you peers and privvy counsellors
I stand before you naked to the eyes
