He does stammer much of the time, and Jude sits silent through it and doesn't really wonder about the cause, only the fact that if he waits, Bodhi will get the words out eventually. Bodhi is a person who tries, he's decided. Whatever harm that's done him in the past is--a thing that exists, clearly, but it's nothing Jude can do anything about, and it's nothing that's any of his business. Bodhi pushes through, and Jude waits on him, his silhouette a halo of wild hair as he faces him outright in the dark.

Is he smiling? It's hard to see anything, even in all the time he's studied Bodhi's face. It might just be in his voice, even as it stumbles over the words. Jude smiles back, and doesn't try to explain what he means by frighten.

Things that frighten him don't bear mentioning. Things that make him panic are reduced down to frighten, and bad as the cave-in was, it didn't rank. "If it happens, you can tell me what kind of rocks we're digging ourselves out of."