Alas for Byerly that the true reason Kaidan's not softening the evening's pretentiousness with a good stiff drink is so terribly prosaic. By the look he turns on the other man, half assessing and half amused, he's at least reassured that his share of the evening's alcohol hasn't gone to waste. Knowing his duty, honed in the forge of a hundred shore leave passes through bars to retrieve shipmates, he meets the lean with a sturdily supportive shoulder beneath his silken robes in case By needs one, and gives the floral artwork another look.

"It is," he agrees. "And she does. It would be interesting to see what she could do, if she'd grown up with a different set of rules about what she's allowed to be."

A lack of ethanol doesn't preclude Kaidan from being philosophical, it appears.