S. - Ship of Theseus - Pg 134

 It's not that S. finds the silence itself uncomfortable--he spent enough time with only his own company on the ship--but it feels wrong to him to be this close to someone, especially someone whom he can trust, and to waste the opportunity for interaction. "Have you and Stenfalk been together a long time?" S. asks. It's a clumsy question, delivered haltingly, but at least they are words and he has offered them to her.