"...Vallynn?"

"Pressure drop," he says, licking his lips and swallowing dryly (which is more a nervous tick than anything). He lifts his hand from where he's been applying pressure to a wound on his other arm and then wishes he didn't because either the lack of pressure or the sight of it makes his pressure dip again. He takes deep breaths of water, eyes closed, and tries not to puke.

"Shit that looks worse than I thought, I, I'm so sorry—"

"Better get the experience out of the way." The shivering is probably just the pressure, his robes are enchanted to keep his temperature stable. "So next time I'll know what to expect."

"Shit. This is my fault..."

"Hey. Hey. Snap out of it. In the worst case we'll die here and be out a few thousand zeny, it's not the end of the world. Blaming yourself won't help anyone and it's honestly kind of insulting, I made my own decisions here."

"But if I hadn't—"

"You are going to make mistakes! We all are! Every adventurer worth their salt has years of mistakes and," whoa dizziness give him a sec.

This isn't really helping her feel any better. 

(Maybe a little.)

"Years of mistakes and deaths under their belt," he says, after making sure he's stable enough to speak again. "What's important is what you learn from it. For next time."

"And what'd we learn here? Not to take bounties too high rank for us even if they look inoffensive at first? I knew that and I did it anyway. And, and why did you let me do it anyway, you should've told me to not go, you should've tied me to a lamp post if that's what it took—"

"I'm not your mother, I'm not in the business of preventing you from making all your mistakes."

She closes her eyes again and hugs her knees closer, not trusting her voice.

"...anyway, now is not the time for a post-mortem, we'll figure that out once we're out of here."

"Do you have a plan?"

"...no. No, I'm pretty sure our best bet is just to die. I've lost too much blood, we're out of red potions, I think I got an important nerve messed up because I can't feel or move my fingers—"

"You didn't tell me that—"

"Only realised a while ago." He swallows dryly again and licks his lips and realises that the way he's feeling thirsty is not in fact thirst. "I don't, don't have it in me to go back out. My reflexes are shot, I'm risking getting too mauled to be rezzed..."

"How'd you get hit so bad, I didn't see it—"

"One of the lightning attacks paralysed me long enough it got a bite in."

...was that the hit that he took for her. Fuck, everything about this situation is making her feel more and more like an idiot.

"...anyway, yeah, dying's my best shot."

She nods a bit and finally opens her eyes again. "My... wounds aren't that bad. I don't think. I think I may have a cracked rib or two and my leg is broken or dislocated but I'm not going to die of them, my cuts are a lot shallower than yours and the potions got them healed enough."

"Oh."

"I don't think I can kill myself," she says in a small voice. "And I'm too scared to go out, and I don't want to die of hunger, I'm scared of dying ."