He nearly brushes it aside with an instinctive, light, If you insist. Stops himself. Cullen wants to help, just as Alistair does, and -- it's not like Alistair doesn't want the help he's offering. Far from it.

He just misses the time when he didn't have to ask for quite so much help. That's all.

"All right," he agrees, still soft. More peaceable: "Also, should you ever make it a full hour without worrying, I'll pay you five sovereigns. So you know."