Rob stared bit at the dark corridor that had been a school hallway, with the end completely lost in the vast darkness.
"It's like a mountain suddenly decided swallow the school," Kanata remarked uneasily.
Rob nodded some. The word "mountain" of course reminded him of Kanata's small physical disability again, but that was definitely not the most important thing at the moment. Beside him, Rayco was frowning, his face uncertain.
He then heard Kanata cry out as the light from the Orchestra room suddenly faded away. Rob swiftly turned around to see that the room had suddenly shifted somehow to the same darkened stone as the corridor in front of him.
"My violin!" Kanata said, his voice slightly panicked.
Rob nearly rolled his eyes, but then again, he did not play music, and a musical instrument could even be very expensive. He was glad that at least perhaps Kanata did not require a special type of violin, as he had not mentioned that.
Rob gazed at the seemingly endless greyish-brown stone, wanting to move, but at the same time, wondering if he would become lost and much more worse off than he was currently.
He then squinted at something that was not neutral-colored hues, or part of the black darkness. There was something moving, perhaps like a jellyfish slowly swimming in the water. Of course, there was no water around them at the moment, and he definitely could not hear any rushing his way, but schools and Orchestra rooms usually did not change into something else.
"What's that light over there?" Rayco asked.
Kanata shrugged stiffly. "I don't know."
The light- if that was it was- move toward them, not straight like a headlight on a car, but bobbing up and down, as if someone was carrying it. Rob then jolted forward, not wanting to miss a chance that someone could aid in the bizarre situation.
"Where are you going?" Kanata asked, his voice a bit strained.
"Seeing what that thing is," he said, pointing toward the still moving globe.
He then walked forward at a fast pace, seeing a faint outline- there were two in the light, one much taller than the other. The light seemed to come from the smaller figure.
Rob increased his pace a bit, noticing that the younger person moved their hands toward the other one. The older figure did the same in response. He nearly gasped- the people were using sign language.
A bit closer, he saw the taller one look up. Rob's eyes widened as he saw the very familiar face in the small circle of bright light. It was Jason, his older brother.
He also recognized the smaller figure, which was Jiyo, Jason's "Padawan", who had a headlight attached to his head. Rob was a little bit glum that he had not thought about people that sign needing their hands free when talking to his brother via the TTY a few days before. For one thing, it just showed how much his brother was needed in his own deaf school, where people understood- and Jason understood- deaf people much more, while he, the hearing brother, merely knew some things and not much else.
Perhaps he was incapable of knowing as much as his brother did about the deaf world. He was hearing- it was quite obvious that he did not belong . . .
He then raised his hands, attempting to not show his sadness, while a small poem formed in his mind. He could write at least part of it later, of course. Hopefully Ghostwriter would not want to see it- some things were private, after all.
"Why are you here?" Rob asked, moving his hands quickly. He was quite glad to see his older brother anytime, even in very odd circumstances, to say the least.
Jason's brow furrowed. "I was going to ask you that," he signed back. "This is in my and Jiyo's school."
He signed with the fluent, rapid speed that only those who used the visible language frequently and depended on it could ever seem to achieve. No matter how fast Rob signed, his brother was much faster and better- especially after he had started to attend the deaf school.
Rob was surprised at the answer. "I didn't really get what happened," he replied, moving his right hand forcefully from his head. "I was in the Orchestra room with two other students" –he pointed to Kanata and Rayco- "and then Rayco opened the door, I saw this place where the hallway was, and then even the room disappeared. It was really weird."
Jason's face turned concerned- but also a little bit excited. "Cool!" he signed, waving his hand in front of him. "You teleported?"
"Not good if I have to pay my way back."
Jason frowned a bit at that, but then signed again with another smile on his face. "It's still good to see you! Maybe you could teleport back? Did you see a teleporter? Is it like the secret passages here, where they have teleported me and Jiyo before a few times?"
Rob then laughed, forgetting a bit that his deaf brother could not hear the sound. He then decided that it did not matter anyway, since he had laughed many times before and Jason had not cared most of the time.
"You would say that," he said, smiling a bit despite himself.
Jason grinned again. "Maybe Master Yoda could show you a few techniques for Orchestra rooms that teleport people. Maybe it's even at certain times, or with certain things. Were you holding anything when the person opened the door?"
"It looks like Rob's signing," Rob then heard Kanata say to Rayco in a quiet tone behind him.
"Yeah, it does," Rayco replied, his voice a bit surprised. "I wonder where he picked that up, and who those people are."
"The taller guy looks like Rob, anyway."
Rob quickly signed to Jason that the other student had said some things, and asked if he could talk to them. Jason quickly nodded, and Rob turned to Kanata and Rayco.
"So that's my brother," –he pointed to Jason- "and that's his friend, Jiyo. They're both deaf. This is somewhere inside their school. And before you ask, no, I don't know how we got here, since really, this has never happened to me before."
Rob then cringed a bit, wondering about the reactions about not only Jiyo, but that he was actually related to someone deaf. He had not experienced many pleasant reactions to introducing his older brother to hearing people before, to say the least.
He carefully looked at their faces, but did not see any visible negative emotions, but he supposed they could still just be stunned about the strange sudden change in location. Then again, he was also, even if he had ended up near his older brother. How he wished that he could have done that during the long months before Jason came back for a short visit to wherever he and their parents were living at the time . . .
Kanata spoke first. "That's cool that he's your brother," he replied, hopefully sincerely. "But, er, do you know a way back? Or would Jason or someone else?"
Rob quickly attempted to sign Kanata's words for Jason and the young Padawan, knowing that professional sign language interpreters would be much faster with still being accurate. Jason then shook his head.
"I don't know, but maybe it would help if we got out of the passage?" Jason suggested. "Maybe we could figure out something from there. I recognized a way that Jiyo and I have gone before a few minutes ago."
Rob was glad that his brother had known the way more recently, and not following a long way out of the passage. "Out of here would be great," he responded, bouncing his palms in the air. "What time is it, anyway?"
Jason moved his closer to Jiyo's headlight for a few seconds. "Four PM," he responded after pulling his hand away. "Maybe you will teleport back to the Orchestra room at five PM?"
Rob pretended to swat his brother. "Let's just hope I will get back, but it is really good to see you, too."
"And me," signed Jiyo signed cheerfully. "I actually get to see you for the first time!"
Rob nodded, knowing that Jason had told his Padawan some about him. He then attempted to relay Jason's idea to the other two hearing students nearby, cringing a bit since he was actually interpreting instead of just signing to his brother.
Rayco nodded, while Kanata seemed a little less uncertain, but the violinist also then also nodded. "I would like to go with someone that actually knows where they are going," he said, "since I sure don't."
"Definitely, yeah," Rayco agreed.
Rob again relayed the audible words, hoping that Jiyo did not think less of Jason's obviously clumsy hearing younger brother. Jason smiled and pointed to his left.
"There's a passage over there in about twenty feet," he signed. "Onward!" He then turned to Jiyo. "Including you, my Padawan."
Jiyo grinned widely at the signs. "Okay!"
Rob followed his brother, wishing that he was alone with him by choice, and not in some random dark passage with two other classmates and another deaf student that he did not know very well. However, he was definitely near Jason currently, other people or not.
He stayed right beside him, with Jiyo to Jason's left and the other two following behind. In the light of Jiyo's headlight, Jason's relayed a few more instructions, and within ten minutes, they were by what seemed like a wall. Jason pushed against part of it, and Rob blinked as the wall suddenly opened up a few inches.
"There's a button connected to a hinge there," he signed, pointing to where he had pushed.
Rob nodded, squinting slightly at the wall, but saw nothing. He then shrugged and moved to the left as his brother skillfully pulled the wall open, revealing a lit room- with various musical instruments around the interior.
Jason frowned a bit. "That's strange," he said. "This way led to one of the spare offices with a lot of paper before."
Rob was a bit worried at the response, hoping- though it seemed just bizarre- that he would not be teleported away from his brother, perhaps even in another strange deaf school somewhere. The odd situation was somewhat better with his friendly older brother, to say the least.
He stepped through the doorway, squinting at the seemingly bright light as he skirted around a few small drums and a tambourine.
"Whoa, a full size contrabass recorder," he heard Kanata whisper from behind him.
Rob turned to see Kanata looking at a large, long instrument with what looked like it would be a wind instrument lying on a shelf. He then felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Come on," Jason signed, pointing to the door.
Rob nodded, and told Kanata and Rayco to follow Jason out of the room. They complied, with Kanata looking a bit longingly at the instruments again before Jason closed the door. Rob was a bit sorry that Kanata's violin had not teleported to the music room, but hoped that it would still be in the Orchestra room where he had left it. The musician (or Rayco) definitely had not planned to come to their fellow classmate's brother's deaf school all the way in Washington D.C.
Rob followed Jason down the hallway, noticing that it was much quieter than usual without the generic chattering of hearing students- then heard a door slam, accompanied by a boisterous laugh, then two people talking in a very loud tone. He assumed that it was either deaf students or ones that had some degree of hearing, both of which could possibly not know how loud even just voices could be.
The voices faded, but they turned to another hallway, and some students were signing to each other quickly. Rob even noticed a few that were his age (that was certainly signing much better than he could). Most of them waved to Jason and Jiyo, who returned the gesture.
One of the older students that could even be in his brother's grade raised his hands to ask a question.
"Who are they?" the teenager asked inquisitively. "Are they visitors, or new students?"
"Visitors," Jason replied, ending with his hands moving down in the two part sign. He pointed to Rob. "He's my brother."
The teenager smiled. "Awesome! Are they deaf? When did they get here?"
Jason answered both questions, with saying four pm for the second. (Rob was glad that the apparent teleporting had not been mentioned. Jason then raised his watch and frowned.
"My watch is broken," he signed. "It still says four pm."
The teen raised his own arm, and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a watch with a blue wristband. "Maybe not," he signed. "My watch also says four."
Jason shrugged. "Weird," he signed, moving his fingers near his head. He then shrugged. "It's must be correct, then."
He stayed with the teen for a few more minutes, with Jiyo excitedly joining in, conversing about what seemed to be a play their class was performing soon. Rob stood, a bit frustrated, but knew that it was definitely Jason's school where he was supposed to do the tasks that were assigned to him, whether in class or for even cleaning parts of the building.
Rob glanced at Kanata and Rob, but neither seemed to know what either teen was saying. Rayco was looking at pair of deaf students signing together near a door with globes on it, and Kanata's face seemed merely confused at Jason's nonverbal conversation. He supposed that he would feel the same if Rayco was speaking Spanish again to someone, or Kanata in Japanese.
He looked back at Jason, who seemed to be asking about a stage prop he was supposed to paint. He then felt a tap on his shoulder. Rob turned around to not see a deaf student that had mistaken him for being deaf, but only saw Rayco, his face a bit baffled.
"I guess that clock over there is wrong?" he whispered, pointing to an analog clock near an open classroom door.
Rob squinted at it, seeing that the hands were at the four pm mark. Of course, Rayco would not have known what Jason and the other teen student had been signing, but Rob had interpreted when Jason had told the time earlier in the passage. He shrugged, then turned to see that the teen Jason had been talking to was walking down the hallway.
"Sorry," he signed. "Let's go to my room now. Maybe Justin will be there. Maybe could figure out something about you three being here."
Rob nodded, remembering that Justin was the name of Jason's roommate at the school. He was not quite sure about telling another person about the apparent teleporting, especially one that he did not know, but had heard some about him from his brother's letters. The teen, the same age as Jason, had seemed nice whenever he had been mentioned.
They passed more students, most of them signing. Three were carrying what looked like a broken couch. Jiyo stopped and excitedly started to sign.
"That's the one that some fell onto after the shelves in the room fell down!" he jabbered. "They saved the computers and the students!"
Jason grinned. "And someone had told me that the couch could be fixed easily," he replied.
Rob rolled his eyes at yet another stop on the way to the dorm room, but was glad that Jason then started walking again, merely waving at a few other students on the way. He then stopped again, pointing to a teen with black hair.
"That's the one that plays the drums," he signed, grinning.
Rob smiled half-heartedly, but was glad that Jason remembered their teletypewriter conversation. Three hallways later, Jason stopped again as a student came out of a classroom that had a door full of punctuation marks.
Rob was agitated- but then relieved when he recognized the teen- Justin, who was his brother's roommate, who had apparently not been in his dorm room after all.
"Hi, Jason," Justin signed happily. "Sorry I wasn't in my room. I was there, but then Greg had told me that the English teacher wanted to talk to me about that last test. It turned out that half of the copies didn't even have the last page on it! I was wondering why you were talking about a problem that had seventeen elephants on computers in it."
Jason grinned. "Yes, I remember it. It was funny- but the problem didn't even say what they were typing!"
Jiyo then signed, smiling some. "Maybe they were typing about a protest that they wanted to join an elephant circus instead of writing on computers! They could even dance!"
The young boy then pretended to dance some, first marching in place, then spinning in wild circles. Rob pretended to ignore his classmates' sudden confused faces, but of course they would not know what the conversation was about. He was glad that he himself could keep up with the fluent, rapid movements. Sometimes he had missed even what his own brother was talking to him about before.
He saw both Jason's and Justin's sudden panicked faces when the "Padawan" was dangerously close to a bulletin board full of tacks and papers. Jason, who was closer, reached out with one arm, but did not stop the spinning Jiyo in time before he crashed into the board. Rob was then alarmed as not only the board fell down, but split in half. He then looked up to see a jagged hole in the wall.
"How did that happen?" he heard Kanata ask quietly from behind him.
"Dunno," Rayco replied. "Maybe someone accidentally glued it to the wall, and it was about to come down anyway? I guess no one's hurt, though."
Rob was almost glad at that point that neither student knew about even stranger accidents that seemed to happen randomly around Jiyo and might want to stay away from him. Even if any deaf students might not remember then, he did not want them to leave any reason that he, Jason's younger brother and who Jason contacted freqently, was someone mean and could even be something that lesser tolerant deaf students could tease his brother about.
Jason calmed down his young friend, who had burst into tears. Justin frowned at the board, lifted it and turned it upwards, then turned to Jiyo, who had stopped crying.
"It's not that bad," the teen assured him. "The papers are not torn, and all of the tacks are in one piece."
Jiyo nodded, but his face still looked a bit sad. Rob then squinted at a piece of paper with a few musical instruments on it. He pulled it from underneath the board, seeing that it was an announcement about an upcoming concert with a few deaf members that would be joining in. He heard footsteps beside him, seeing Kanata's eyes widen slightly as he stared at the page in his hand. Rob frowned, wondering about the sheer coincidence that Kanata was with him near the announcement. Here was proof that a musical group allowed even more than one disable musician to join them . . .
Rayco then spoke up, coming up on Rob's left side. "I was wondering about those instruments in the room earlier," he said. "This is a deaf school, right?"
"Rob told me earlier that some deaf students can play instruments," Kanata replied. "I don't know how many play, though."
Surprisingly, Rayco grinned some instead of frowning as Rob had anticipated. "Cool."
Rob then turned toward Jason again, seeing that he was handing parts of the broken bulletin board to someone in a janitor costume with a plastic brown cart. He knew from Jason's letters' that the janitor did not know much sign language, but was nice enough.
Jason and Jiyo then began to stack the papers and hand them to what looked like a teacher nearby. Rob was glad that Justin handled picking up the tack instead of the accident prone Padawan. He bent down to pick up a tack and handing it to another teacher, who had come out with a small plastic container.
They soon finished the task with a few students curiously around the hole in the wall, and the two teachers vanishing into two classrooms.
Jason pointed to an Asian female student who was signing to someone that looked to be her age. "She plays an oboe," he signed. Rob nodded, noticing a behind-the-ear hearing aid on her side facing him. And he plays a castanet." He pointed to a boy a bit shorter than Rob with blond hair nearby.
Rob nodded, a bit absentmindedly. The castanet player then turned around.
"Are you going to be at the music concert?" he asked Jason. "I saw you at the drum performance."
Jason shrugged, but smiled some. "Maybe," he responded, moving his hands up and down.
"Do those people know how to play instruments?" he asked. "Maybe they could come, too."
Rob then answered, hoping that Kanata and the deaf students (including Jason) would not mind, and again, that his sign language was not too weird. He almost had an idea, though . . .
"He plays violin," he signed, pointing to Kanata.
The black-haired boy seemed suddenly baffled that Rob was pointing to him, and perhaps he even recognized the sign for violin, as it was not that hard to understand even without knowing sign language. Of course, an actual violinist that played on their shoulder would "probably" know that he was doing the motion that slightly mimicked playing the instrument incorrectly for someone that actual played, and even Kanata, from seeing others do what he physically could not, might know the same.
The castanet player's face turned baffled. "You're deaf?" he asked.
"No, I'm hearing," Rob quickly responded. "So are they," he said, pointing his classmates. "I'm just . . . visiting."
"Oh, is he playing in the orchestra for the concert soon?" the blond boy asked, his face suddenly more excited.
Rob shook his head. "No, but he also has a disability" –he was very glad that Kanata would not be able to understand him currently- "and he wants to be in the school Orchestra. How did you and others be able to perform in the concert mentioned on a sign that was on the bulletin board?"
The castanet player's face turned a bit sad. "It took a long time," he signed back. "Or it seemed like a long time to me. I came here three years ago, and the students could only play in one concert with hearing people, and that was only twice a year." He then grinned. "But now we can play a lot more, including me playing castanet! Have you ever played a single castanet? It's different than playing two at a time."
"But how did you be able to get to play with them in the first place?" he asked. He glanced at Kanata, but the musician still did not seem to know what he was signing.
The boy frowned briefly. "Well, the students, including me were sad that we couldn't play with the hearing people more, including since we wanted to perform elsewhere than just the school and in larger groups than our small one. Not many people hear play musical instruments well enough to perform. The oboe player wanted to find more oboists to play with, also."
He then shrugged a bit. "I think what really helped was that a few deaf musicians- not me, but some others- played for the conductor. He was surprised that they were on key, and the tambourine player played on beat. They then played with a few hearing students that wanted to try to play with some deaf students, and then more wanted to. And they still want to. It's really neat!"
Jason, who had been watching Rob sign, nodded. "The oboist over there played a duet in the last concert, and another deaf student even played a solo."
The castanet player nodded. "But what is his disability?" he asked, pointing to Kanata. "You said he had one, but he's not deaf."
"He- well, I don't know what it's called, but he can't turn his hands all the way around, so he plays violin like a cello." Rob hoped that his signs were correct, but noticed that Jason had not corrected him so far, so he was at least understandable.
Surprisingly, the blond boy then flinched. "I wouldn't want that disability," he signed, frowning heavily.
Justin nodded. "It would make signing harder."
"And playing castanet."
Rob frowned, understanding only a little bit what either was getting at. He then continued.
"Do you know a way that he could be in the Orchestra?" he asked, glancing at the female oboist, who was still signing with her friend.
He was disappointed as the castanet player shook his head. "I don't know," he signed back. "Maybe he could play for the conductor?"
Rob frowned. "But the conductor doesn't even want to see him play," he replied solemnly.
"What about other conductors in other hearing schools? Do they have Orchestras?"
Rob shrugged. "I don't know. He doesn't seem to want to try since he thinks that he just can't get into the Orchestra."
Rob then saw the female oboist, who had turned around and was watching interestedly. The castanet player then explained the conversation to her, with her frowning more deeply as he went on.
She the raised her hands. "If he can play well, he should be able to play with others," she signed obstinately. "The conductor is crazy."
The castanet player nodded, agreeing with her. "Definitely," he replied.
Rob blanched some at the firm signs from both of them, then recovered. "He can play well, from what I saw," he replied. "He likes to play."
From the corner of his eyes, he saw someone carrying what looked like a violin case, but was bigger, so it most likely contained a viola. Rob saw Kanata smile slightly at the sight, though he wished that it was with someone that he could play with, or even that he had teleported with his violin so that he could play with other musicians, if they would allow it.
Jason pointed to the violist, who had stopped to sign one-handed with another student. "He plays viola," he signed, fingerspelling the uncommon usage of the word after the "violin" sign. Rob then saw Jason frown some, seeming a bit confused. "And the person by the open door near there plays piano- and there's the drum player again- and she plays melodica."
Rob frowned, as he did not know what the last instrument was, even with Jason fingerspelling it. His brother briefly explained was it was, and he sort of understood.
"It's a musician gathering!" he then saw Jiyo sign happily, as the one that Jason had signed played melodica waved in their direction. "Maybe the force brought them together to your violinist friend!"
Rob doubted that it was the force, but it seemed a bit odd that several deaf musicians chanced to be around them at the same time, the hearing people who were technically not supposed to be there in the first place.
"How long are they visiting?" the oboist asked Jason. "Does he have time to play violin if he brought it with him."
Jason shrugged. "He doesn't have it right now," he replied. "They came near four o'clock, and I don't know when they are leaving." He then looked at his watch, and frowned. "I think my watch is still broken," he added. "It still says four o'clock!"
Rob then watched the oboist look at her own watch. "No, it's correct," she signed, putting her pointer fingers together. "It's four o'clock."
"It still can't be four o'clock," Justin stated, his face confused. "It was four o'clock a while ago."
The oboist shrugged, then waved to the melodica player, who had come to see the hole in the wall. Jason tapped him again on the shoulder.
"He plays a tenor recorder," he signed, pointing to a boy taller than him that was signing to a teacher.
Rob nodded again. He was surprised the tenor recorder player then came near them- Kanata and Rayco were looking even more confused, but were thankfully not outwardly complaining- and then the drum player, and then then piano player, and then one musician that played an accordion. Rob was glad that he had learned the sign for the previous instrument by sheer chance the week in a self-sign language review in a new signing book he had checked out from the library.)
He a bit bemused as the deaf musicians- though some had hearing aids- were then told about the conversation. The piano player turned to Rob.
"He should play in the Orchestra," he signed resolutely, ending with a firm crooked finger moving forcefully downward.
The melodica player nodded. "He really should if he wants to."
The other players added their own firm agreements, with Rob still able to see them as they were in in a crooked semi-circle in front of him. (Kanata was still looking confused.)
"He should . . . He should . . . He should . . ."
A teacher then came nearby them, waving to get their attention. "Focus!" she signed. "All of the musicians need to be in the practice room in fifteen minutes!"
The castanet player grinned. "We were talking about another disable musician!" he signed.
The teacher smiled some. "But you still need to practice, too."
The blond boy nodded, then walked quickly down the hallway. The ragtag group of musicians soon left, leaving Rob with his classmates and his brother and his two deaf student friends.
He then saw Rayco turn toward him. "I wonder what that was about," he wondered. "They seemed kind of mad about something. Was it since we're here?"
"Er, no," Rob responded, wishing that it was easier to sign and talk at the same time. "It was about something else-"
He was startled as the hallway with the colorful pictures on the walls suddenly shifted to plain cream-colored large bricks. Rob whirled around to see the door of the room he was in open- to see a few familiar students that he recognized. Behind him was the piano, and Kanata's violin still on the chair.
"I'd say that was a strange trip," he heard Rayco say confusedly. Rob turned to him, seeing Kanata also baffled to say the least. "But, er, since we're at Hurston- I hope, at least- I've still got to go home to watch my younger sister and her friend. I don't know how long it's been-"
He stopped suddenly after he turned to the clock near the piano. Rob was confused at the small hand neatly pointing at the four.
"It's still four o'clock?" Rayco sputtered. He then shook his head slightly. "Well, if it's four o'clock still, I guess I really can get home in time, then."
He then waved and rushed out the door. Rob did not blame him for wanting to try to quickly avoid another random trip to the capital, and was at least glad that he could see him rush down the hallway instead of disappearing into a random void. He then signed inwardly. He had actually seen Jason again, and had not been able to talk to him much, or stay longer . . .
Rob then turned to his right to see Kanata cleaning his violin with a small blue cloth. He supposed that the bow was already in the case, as he did not see it on the music stand.
"You're going, too?" he asked.
Kanata nodded sadly as he carefully wiped the strings on his violin. "Yeah, it took some time looking for my binder," he said, frowning a bit.
Rob glanced at the clock, and was glad to see it pointing to a minute after four pm. He then grimaced a bit, wondering how the musician would react to the knowledge that he had told some random people about his disability. Rob then sighed, then told about the incident anyway, hoping that at least Kanata would hope that he could be in an Orchestra, even if it would be not until high school.
He supposed it was a plus that the violinist did not seem to be mad, as he put the hand with the cloth in his lap. "So that's what they were talking about," he said, his face a bit surprised. He then frowned. "But for them to even care . . ."
"I think they did," Rob said, distinctly remembering the very firm signing of the deaf musicians.
Kanata sighed, then smiled a little bit. "Well, I guess I could try seeing if my mom knows anyone that could help," he said.
He then quickly swiped the cloth over the back of the violin, then placed the instrument, then the cloth after folding it into the case and snapped it shut.
"I'll be heading home," he said, after placing the music stand on a rack with several others. "But . . . thanks, I guess."
Rob nodded, allowing himself to smile some. Even if he had not been able to see Jason as long as he wanted (he would need to write to his brother that he and his two classmates were fine), the very random trip had done something after all. Kanata did not want to completely give up anymore- and never should he.
