Shady

“And yet you’re still kicking, despite it all,” Zander said encouragingly. “It takes a strong man… person… indeed to survive all that with their humanity intact. And you’re one of ...

“I do.” Zander returned the smile. “You’re a good mixture of strength and humility. You’re well suited to it.”

“That you can,” Zander agreed. “And I get the impression you’d do very well in power. You’re compassionate. That’s important.”

“Of course we’re not going the way we came,” Ky scoffed. Was he stupid? There was a ghost! Pratik laughed at her inflection, still warily watching the ghost, but more ...

Ky nodded, looking up at the ghost fearfully. “Right… well…. I’ll try not to fall face-first in a thicket of briars this time. But I still vote we run away.”

Ky was blushing profusely, absolutely mortified that she was basically an overgrown toddler with not one but three strangers having to help her wimpy, incompetent self. “Thanks,” she murmured shee

“That’s fair,” Zander agreed. “But with power comes responsibility. Not sure I'd be interested in that. I like being mobile. Able to run towards or away from danger, however the ...

“Oh?”

“Sorry,” Zander said. “My mouth got away from me. I know you can’t really agree or disagree with me. At least can’t say if you do. I didn’t mean to ...

“Oh, of course. I wasn’t suggesting Gaius is unreasonable, most of the time.” Most of the time. “But we all have moments of bullheadedness, and it’s tough to do much ...

“Fair enough.” Zander inclined his head. “Sometimes the Mr. I’m In Charge types are positively infuriating. But you still gotta love ‘em.” And Mikhail loved Zander, too. And he knew ...

Zander laughed a bit. “I’m sure that must make things interesting sometimes, if he’s actually got authority over you.”

“Sorry,” Zander said sheepishly. “I thought… well… that was the most significant part of the trip. She got pissy once at Gaius and went stomping off, but came back, so…” ...

“Oh… you weren’t… talking about that , were you?”

Zander nodded. “It’s important .”