"No, no, not... exactly?" Jack gives a helpless little laugh. "Sorry. I do tend to ramble. I am not really worried in the way I think you think I might be."

He considers how to explain, because Serph will want him to explain. And he's been avoiding explaining this for a long time now. "I am very old," he begins as they approach the convoy proper. "You, I think, are not. You don't know very much about how actual humans interact, while I have seen so many relationships and falling outs and reunions and makings up in my time. I do not want to hurt you, without meaning to, because you do not understand everything that I understand. Does that make sense?"