Clef knelt next to her, his posture closed and tight as though from the cold. He was tempted to simply agree with her words at first, but stopped himself when he realized what that would mean. That wasn't like him at all - he had always corrected his students when they said that something was 'impossible', and now he was that close to using the word himself. That wasn't right.

"Because you seem to have no choice," he said after a moment's consideration, finally relaxing a bit to rest his hands on his knees and look up at her, "Or because you already regret something?"

That was more like it.