"I wasn't offering a gift!" Papolstaanas retorts, more emphatically than he intended, and immediately starts babbling. "I mean, that is, I don't mean to say that I wouldn't give gifts if the occasion called for it, which the occasion of standing around on the street while a bunch of people around the corner try to, try to kill each other certainly doesn't, at least I never heard of a culture in which that was an occasion for gift giving, just taking bets maybe, but, um, what was I saying? ... About gifts? I mean don't mean to say that you're unworthy of gifts or anything, but I'm--I'm not--why do people always think--" He catches his friend Kaeysari's eye and gives her a pleading "help me!" sort of look. "I need something to drink," Papolstaanas mutters, and starts fumbling with his pack.