"Xlelon…"
"Hm?"
Neal paused, faltered, and swallowed. He was slightly pale, and trembling, though it was barely perceptible from her position, which happened to be leaned against him, head on his shoulder. It was two weeks before midwinter.
"Er…"
Xlelon didn't notice his indecision, she was too engrossed in her book. Neal, as a source of distraction, tried to read it. It happened to be in Scanran, so he made his way through a few sentences, then lost track of the words. Neal thought about it for a second, decided against it, and changed the subject.
"How can you read that? There's so many little words!"
Xlelon looked up.
"It took you that long to say that?"
Neal sighed, he should have known.
"Couldn't figure out how to phrase it."
Lame excuse, he admonished himself. Xlelon narrowed her eyes, then let it drop, answering his previous question. Or rather, asking another.
"What do you mean, little words?"
Neal reached around and pointed to a sentence.
"These, der, die, das, den, dem, des, how do you keep track?"
Xlelon smirked.
"You know Scanran, why do you ask?"
He grimaced inwardly. Caught, he thought, genius.
"Curious, I just get lost."
Xlelon chuckled.
"You know, you really aren't a very good liar."
"Neither are you."
"But I don't try, that's the difference."
Neal smiled.
"True, now answer the question, lame though it may be."
Xlelon shook her head.
"Very well. The little words are just that…little words, they mean…the…I guess…"
Neal shook his head.
"Whatever you say."
Xlelon shook her head.
"Neal, what's bothering you?" She grew quiet, remembering the date. "oh…that."
Neal nodded, that wasn't precisely it, but it was close enough to make for a convincing performance.
Xlelon sighed, it must be his ordeal, she thought, and I can't tell him anything about it, cause I don't want to mess it up. What a hellish world it is. What scared her was that he was never mentioned in any of the books, so it was possible that he didn't make it. Shut up, she told herself, there was no one that didn't make it before Joren and Vinson, so stop worrying! What she didn't think of, was that there was no mention of her either, nor of any diplomatic mission to scanra.
~^~
^-^ ::is happy:: I really must catch up on my uploading. A sort of cliffie if you think of it.