She felt this nagging feeling there was something she wasn't picking up on but she couldn't figure it out, so she shrugged and went back to her drink.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Well I dunno, I think the beard you have now looks fine!" Amy said with a smile, trying to relieve the tension. "You keep it uh, nice and, trimmed?" she looked over to Ari, at a bit of a loss for words.
Ari was looking between the two of them with a bit of a dumbfounded look and could do naught but give Amy an awkward shrug, completely at a loss.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
At that moment, Amy let out a quiet sigh of relief as the server came over with a large tray of food.
"Food's here!" she announced, even though it was obvious.
Then came down the plates: Ari and Amy's sashimi, Tasha's trout, and James's smoked bass. Amy gave Ari one quick look before she began to eat. Very, very quickly.
Ari grinned and started to wolf it down, shoving sashimi down his face like a champ, barely managing to rival the werewolf's speed. Tasha looked at them for a moment and sighed, beginning to eat her fish at a swift, but within the range of normal, pace.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James let out a quiet sigh as he saw the two teens rapidly stuff their faces and started to cut his fish into pieces with his knife before eating.
As Amy continued to eat at a rapid pace, she found herself feeling very pleased with herself. Everything was going according to plan. Though they were eating in silence, that wasn't so surprising. Her and Ari hardly left room to breathe, and Tasha and James were eating steadily, even if they were taking their time. So when they finally finished, before either Tasha or James even got halfway through their meals, Amy could only hope that they would talk to each other when they left.
When Ari and she both took their last bite, almost simultaneously, she gave him a nod over her head, and then looked over to Tasha and James.
"So uh," she started, drawing their gazes. "I've got to go get something in the town square..."
She paused, not having thought too far into her bluff. In a moment of panic, she stood up from her seat, and grabbed Ari's arm, dragging him up with her.
"We'll meet you there! Have a nice time finishing your meal together!" she said in a hurry, before dragging Ari off with her, abandoning their empty plates and empty seats as they hurried out into the street, soon out of sight of the shack.
Tasha watched them in silence, then went back to her meal, passing Bane a few bites of the fish.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James watched with confusion as Amy hurried off with Ari. Though her excuse was marginally convincing, he knew there was something she wasn't saying, and that she hadn't really needed to go to the market to get something. He dreaded the thought of her and Ari escaping just to indulge more cheesy romantic endeavors.
It wasn't much of a problem since at least she'd provided a meeting place - even if vague - for them to meet up again, but it was a pain. The last thing he wanted to do was get separated from Ari again, but at least he knew that it wasn't because of dangerous baboons this time.
With a small sigh he shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose before taking another bite of his meal with his fork. As soon as he did, though, he froze at another possible reason for their sudden and abrupt departure.
They might've been trying to set him and Tasha up. He wouldn't put it past them.
Such behaviour from the two was strange, but she quickly attributed it to them being young lovers - no doubt there were more romantic things they'd rather be doing.
"Where'd you pick up the kid?" she asked James abruptly, not looking up from her fish. "Ardeshir, I mean."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
He swallowed his food somewhat awkwardly at the unexpected question and the unwelcome hypothesis and ended up almost choking as the food got caught in his throat. Painfully, he forced a swallow and cleared his throat with a fist over his mouth.
"Uh, Ardeshir. Yeah," he said, looking at his glass of water with longing, but not wanting to prolong the pause and make his discomfort even more obvious by taking a long drink. That would either draw suspicion or invite insults from Tasha, and he wanted neither. "We both got... caught by the same person at one point," he started to explain, keeping it vague as he glanced at the people dining around them. "There was a group of us, and together found a way out. To escape. I spent some time with them afterward and eventually Ari and I became friends. We parted ways about a year ago, until we ran into each other by coincidence a few days before we ran into you."
"Ah," she nodded, for once able to read between the lines. She'd known a lot of bounty hunters and the like in her time - if both James and Ari were wanted and gotten caught, it wasn't too much of a stretch to assume it'd been Outland bounty hunters. "Well, I'm sure I'll regret saying this, but you did a good job with the kid. He obviously looks up to you and in a good-influence sort of way. If a somewhat naïve one."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
She chuckled and shook her head. "Well, yes. You could be a father or an elder brother as far as he's concerned - and honestly you don't act much different than either of those roles."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
I don't care what the miserable excuse is
for showing the death of books, live, on screen.
Men, I could understand; but books! - — Edwin Morgan, From the Video Box 2
