"I'm not making those mistakes. The only person I would follow into danger is gone from my life. I was too much of a liability."

He looks away as soon as he's said it, because that's not true. "No, I'm sorry, forget that. It wasn't that. We just... it ended. The friendship. That was my bitterness speaking. I was the one who ended the partnership. Oh, hey, do you want some more, buddy?"

His fingertip goes back into the salt and is offered out to the salamander.