Secrets and Reasons
"You don't trust me."
"Of course I trust you."
"Then tell me."
"Tell you what?"
"Whatever Count Volger knows."
"What does Count Volger know?"
"Don't play dumb, Dylan."
"I honestly don't know what you mean, your Highness."
"Don't pull rank on me, Mr. Sharp."
"Then don't be a bum-rag."
"If you don't tell me, I'll have to guess."
"Go ahead."
"Hmm… I knew it! You have Clanker sympathies!"
"Pah! Don't even joke!"
"Ouch!"
"You deserved it."
"So… what you're saying is, you trust Volger and Bovril more than me."
"Barking spiders! Yes, I trust a Clanker count and a beastie more than you."
"Dylan. Please. Be honest. I'm your friend. You can tell me anything."
"I'm sorry, Alek… I can't."
"Dylan! Dylan, don't walk away from me. I told you everything. Everything! You know all there is to know about me. I cried in front of you, damn it!"
"You want to know my secret? Really?"
"God's wounds, Dylan. Yes!"
"My name… it isn't… it isn't Dylan."
"What is it, then?"
"Deryn."
"You're whispering, I can't hear you."
"Deryn!"
"I'm Austrian, we don't have Scottish names like that. Why did you change your name?"
"It's Welsh, but that's not the barking point!"
"What do you mean?"
"Deryn. It's a girl's name."
"Your parents gave you a girl's name?"
"Now you're the one being purposely daft."
"I don't understand what you're saying."
"Yes, you know exactly what I'm saying! You just don't want to listen."
"I'm listening! What the hell are you telling me?"
"I'm a girl! I'm a barking girl!"
"No."
"Alek? Please look at me."
"Why?"
"Why, what?"
"Why did you lie to me?"
"I… I've always wanted to fly. And Da helped me with that dream. But then… then he died, and it was back to skirts and tea and corsets and small talk. I was drowning inside myself. I was losing my dream."
"You lied, cheated and sneaked just so you could fly?"
"And to serve my King! But Alek, you told me that you loved this ship. Well, I love it every bit as much as you do, if not more!"
"I can't believe this."
"Why are you angry? It has nothing to do with you."
"You lied to me. I thought you were my friend. Now I don't know who, or what, you are anymore!"
"Alek! Alek… wait! Do you know how many times I wanted to tell you?"
"Don't touch me!"
"Is it because I'm a girl? You just don't like knowing that a girl could be a decorated officer!"
"Perhaps… perhaps that's part of it."
"Ha! What about Lilit? You didn't pick a bone with her."
"Lilit was born into fighting. Lilit wasn't one of my closest friends. Lilit didn't lie to me!"
"Lilit was born to fight, I was born to fly!"
"I don't want to hear it. Hold on… you… kissed her."
"She kissed me!"
"Wait a minute… she knew, didn't she? How is it that everyone knew your secret but me?"
"I didn't want anyone to know. I'm not that loony, I knew nobody would understand. I didn't tell anybody. Everybody who knows just happened to figure it out for themselves!"
"You could have told me."
"No, I couldn't. I can already see it was a bloody terrible idea."
"…Deryn?"
"What?"
"You should have told me."
"I know. I already said that I almost did, loads of times. Look, Alek. If this were to get around more than it already has, they'd toss me off the Leviathan. I don't… I didn't want anyone to know. So, what ever you think of me, please don't tell anyone."
"Fine."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Will things be strange between us now?"
"Probably For a while, at least."
"Oh. But maybe one day…"
"What?"
"Maybe one day, things will go back to how they were."
"Yes. Maybe."
"Alright, Alek. I should go. It's getting on."
"Fine. See you tomorrow."
"'Night, then."
"Deryn?"
"Aye?"
"Even if… Even if you are a girl, you're a damn good airman."
"I know. Thanks, Alek."
"Your welcome, Deryn."
"'Night."
"Goodnight."