"How gracious of you," Jone says, to hide her real relief. She'll thank him later, and it will be real and true. That would be nice, anyway. She's never been good with kindness, not the receiving of it. Giving already took ages to learn. She feels too old, now, to weather anything new.

She tries anyway.

Cautiously, she asks, "who taught you?"

If their origins are as similar as he's said.