Wash just stands quietly aside, waiting for her to finish with the horse, and he's -- clearly a little distracted, now. Lakshmi. He hasn't spoken a real word to her since they'd both arrived back here in the Cetagandan base, awkwardly nodding and looking away whenever their eyes end up meeting. He'd stayed for days by her bedside when she was first recovering here, talking with Maine and in silence, but she would have no way of knowing he did, unless she'd asked after it. He watches her from afar, now, to check in with her, and does what he can to slip away from somewhere before she sees him.

"She should," he says after a while, warm, genuine. Lakshmi had been a good teacher, even under their strange circumstances. "Not too sure I'd attend, though."

He's just pretty sure Lakshmi would rather not talk to him.