Ben's gait stuttered just a little at the unexpected question, but hopefully not enough that she would have noticed. He didn't particularly want to talk about it, because while he found it hard to regret fighting Macmillan he wasn't exactly proud of the way things had worked out. He wasn't proud of having left Melody at home alone while he panicked and went off looking for Greengrass, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. And Melody was awake now, and was recovering, so everything had worked out alright in the end. And this duel wasn't going to be a big deal, in the end — a minor inconvenience, a few spells shot off and the thing resolved. Macmillan would have learned his lesson and Ben would be none the worse for wear, and that would be that.

"He, ah — insulted my sister," Ben said with a slight flush of his cheeks. That wasn't the whole truth, but it was close enough for anyone outside of the family. The very notion that she might be interested in someone like Macmillan was an insult, and Ben wasn't going to further the stain on her character by repeating what Macmillan had actually said. "But it probably wouldn't have escalated the way it did if I hadn't already been — in a bit of a mood," Ben admitted, reaching up to rub his neck. That was, of course, putting it lightly, but that was another thing he didn't really think she needed to know.