It's more the particular scenario, that Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known and having the choice to confront it being ripped away, that's what's unexpected. Before that, he'd simply assumed all of her displeasure with being swept away to Havenwell had more mundane reasoning behind it. Nobody asked to be here, pretty much everyone had lives to get back to, but something like that lingering, unresolved, that has to be a lot to cope with on top of everything else.

Whether there's more to that ache or not, he simply has no way to know, and so he just keeps that warm, steady hold on her hand.

"Until you get to say what you want to say." Whenever she gets to go home, which... he hopes the implication is clear, because at the moment wishing for her to return there soon hurts a little too much to say out loud.