I ran into him when I got here.

[And from his tone, you wouldn't even need to have mind-reading abilities to know it went over about as well as a ton of bricks. To say the least.]

[His expression hardens. He can't help it. These days it's reflex. This protective urge. Out of everything that's happened to him, lately, that's the least of his worries.]

I'm not going to claim I'm very good with this mental communication... but he backed off me fairly quickly.

If he bothers you again, I'll do what I can.

[He means it, too. It doesn't even surprise him to realize it, by now.]