There was the modesty. Sally sighed, gaze still leveled at Zechs, but venom temporarily softening. She couldn't help but think of the many, many times Noin had tried to argue this particular point, but if Zechs was so pure and modest and gentlemanly, he wouldn't have chosen to climb ranks and throw an entire planet under the bus to suit him. That modesty seemed self-serving, as far as Sally was concerned, but she'd had to bite her lip then and she was going to have to do so now, too.

Pushing herself up to her feet and snagging her things, she decided here and now to be patient... but careful. This could still be some kind of a test, or a trap, and she still didn't trust that Zechs was either commiserating with the Augur, or wasn't trying to get into its favour.

So, when she joined the blonde and jerked her head down the beach to keep walking, she schooled her voice down to careful aloofness. "How long? The last I had was a message from Noin that you were doing just fine on the terraforming project."