Shady

“Oh… good.” She nodded, clearing her throat. That was more than okay with her.

“I just wanted to say…” that wasn’t true; she didn’t want to say this at all . Not to him or anyone else. But she had to. “Um… I… apologize ...

Jerica nodded, following after him. Hopefully she’d be able to be quick enough Derik wouldn’t notice her absence. And hopefully Ash wouldn’t mention this in front of him. She didn’t ...

Good. She nodded.

She huffed a little, getting frustrated with this back and forth. “Fine. Then I clearly need to read about them to get this figured out.”

Jerica hesitated. She didn’t have a good answer for that. “I don’t know… I guess… I feel a bit of a connection to them.” Too close. “We’re both good at ...

“Why not?” She shrugged. “Seems interesting and I’m apparently not allowed to have friends up here so may as well learn about him-them-Strithr.”

“Just more about them in general.” She shrugged. “I wanna know what they’re like. What they’re gonna want when they wake up. If they treat people okay.”

Jerica glanced at him, then back at the book. “Mm.” Biryn and Levin always said it was just her and meant she was stupid. Was Ash just trying to spare ...

Jerica nodded. “… the letters just jump around a lot.” She shrugged. “But I catch them and it’s fine.”

“Um… I think this will keep me busy for a little while,” Jerica said. She glanced at him defensively. “I’m not stupid. I can read well. It just… takes time. ...

“Mm… okay.” She nodded. “That’s fair.”

“Oh.” Well, shit. That made this harder. She nodded hesitantly. “Are… there any read-able ones I can take back to the barracks? I’m… not sure I’m properly supposed to not ...

“Thank you.” Jerica took it. It was going to take her ages to get through something this big. But she’d manage it. As long as she finished it in less ...

“Okay.” She nodded. Fine. She’d struggle through Upper Tongue, then. She could do it if she tried hard enough.