Sefton went silent, debating what might happen were he to let the kid try and pull all of the splinters out. It didn't seem like all that much contact, as long as he didn't let go after every single extraction or something dumb like that, but Sefton couldn't help but feel it was compromising to his rule of no touching if he could help it.

But... could he really help it in this situation? It was either Chivy or the next random stranger who would notice the injured hands, and they might not be so willing to agree to his demands or let him go without treatment.

"Gently," he finally said, a quiet tone of defeat present in his voice.