And suddenly it was love at first sight for Arsenyo's friend.
That or he just noticed Arsenyo's female form and immediately thought on how familiar he, or rather she in this case, looked.
In addition, I reread it slightly and realised Sauro wasn't actually trying to kill the girls but helping them. First time around I thought he was ultra-serious about killing any he saw as witches so I missed the subtle gesture he made to them afterwards when his soldiers were distracted for them to get out of there.