His eyes slide over to the side, avoiding her gaze. His voice gets just a little strained, but he still speaks. Without hesitation. He sounds like someone who's gone over this a hundred times himself; his words are just a little bit too polished. He sounds like he's spent the time since her capture rehearsing this, preparing to say it to her.

"Not for leaving," he says. "I won't apologize for that. But I'm sorry for not telling you before I went. I'd wanted to, but there wasn't time. When there was an opportunity to leave, I had to take it; I couldn't linger, not even long enough to write a note. I had to take advantage of the gap in the patrols to get away."