He managed to make her smile with that condemnation of his own sex. There was a genuine warmth to her eyes, touched by his gesture and his attempt to make her feel better about it. While the torments of her past had only made her stronger, it didn't make the memories any easier to bear. There was at least something good to have come out of it. She never regretted her son.

"Certainly you are not as bad as they are?" She offered, granting him the chance to return to some kind of levity.