[What connotations Oliver's words may hold, Achilles catches not. His is a culture in which male friendships flourish unabashedly and none shy from touch such that comrades share, as Achilles shares now. More than once, however, he has caught the way that Oliver sways and bends beneath his attention, as do stalks of grass beneath the will of the breeze. Long has he grown used to how he holds the attention of others thus. He is a prince among princes, the son of a goddess, the best of the Achaeans: even when donning this disguise, his true nature cannot be eclipsed.]

Glad am I too to have found another friend among these ranks.

[He has kept his voice low, lest they draw attention from one among the hospital staff, harried though all may be. But lingering here while everyone else has somewhere they must go only illuminates how out of place they truly are.]

I will not ask what business you have here, nor will I speak of that to which I must tend. But let us each be on our way presently. There shall be time enough later to meet again.