Yomi shook her head, feeling more tired than she’d ever remembered being. Now wasn’t the time to be playing flattery games. She wasn’t some damsel in distress with infinite patience to spend on her would-be hero.

“I think it’s more like this: you’re the one who needs help,” she replied with a soft-spoken flatness in her voice. “You’ve woken up in a strange place with no one to trust, and you found me. I’m not the best choice to help answer your questions, though--one of the others over there might be better at introducing you to the place.” She smiled a little, almost like an involuntary twitch. “Sorry. Sorry I’ve made things harder for you already. Bad luck brought you to me tonight. But I’m heading upstairs for my own reasons, so if you still want to travel with a kook like me, I won’t stop you. If you want to stay close just because you think I’m a hurt woman, though, you don’t have to. I’m not a very pleasant person, either.”

She knew how she sounded--weak, frazzled. Crazy, even. Whether or not he was offering to stay in her company because he wanted to take advantage of her vulnerability or honestly wanted the two of them to help each other, the least she could do was be honest about his options. She wouldn’t make a good guide. If anything, there was every chance she would only make things worse for him.