"To hold fear in because you don't wish others to be afraid is noble. But if someone were to be disappointed that you were afraid of the coming battle, that's a failing in them, not in you. You are here, are you not? What further proof of your commitment would anyone ask of you? What further proof of valor?" he grins brightly, "Let foolish men think they have certain victory. I prefer to accept how much I will likely have to work for mine. I plan to make it through this, fear or no."

He finishes a few more bites of the stew and then holds a carrot out on a fork to Zaika, his arms long enough and the table small enough that she doesn't have to leave Mikka's arms, though perhaps the gesture is a bit more intimate for it.

"She's wise, then. You aren't dead yet, after all," he points out and he does mean Mikka personally, but he also means the whole of the battle. No one is dead yet. Nothing yet has been lost.