A friend; so she had called him and so she felt he had been. Even as he softens his answer, it is disappointing to find him not the same and her face falls, just a little, as she slows, and with this in mind she doesn't protest Integra's decision to place herself between them. Perhaps, as with Hellboy, it will be an opportunity - but she is not naive, and she will tread carefully.

Finally, diplomatically, she says, "In another life, perhaps. I am Princess Nuala, and in another place I knew a man like you." They feel similar, even at this distance; a man, perhaps, but something other. She resists the impulse to reach her hands out to his mind to see. "He had no name, so I called him my friend."

A pause. "My companion, Sir Hellsing."

Her companion...who looks significantly less delicate. Integra is not riding side-saddle, as the princess does.