After the strange incident in the forest, the party was back on their feet, now only a short distance from Corvailles. Six more days at most. Their travels had been a lot slower than Alwyn had hoped...
And Linnie came to a realization.
This girl, Liora, was pretty damn annoying!
"—and I swear, when he tried to teach me how to cook, I almost burned off my eyebrows. And it happened, like, twice. Wait, actually, it was three times, but the third time was totally someone else's fault because they bumped into me. But it still kinda counts, because—hey, are you listening?"
"No," Linnie said flatly.
"Anyway! So, then he gives me this big lecture about fire and knives and—oh! That reminds me, did you know you can sharpen your nails if you scratch them across these river stones? I learned that yesterday on accident when I was trying to file them down. Watch!"
"I don't wanna watch you—"
She scraped her nail across a rock with a horrible screech, much to Linnie's displeasure.
"See? That's how I got them so sharp. Well, part of it. I think some of it's just natural Siaryn stuff, but honestly, it's not like I know or anything. I just kind of do it, y'know?"
"How would I know anything about that?"
"Right, right—OH! And I had this crazy dream last night. I mean, it wasn't really a dream, it was more like a thought, or a daydream? Or maybe like a half-dream? A dreamling? Anyway, you were in it. Why're you making that face? It wasn't anything weird. Well... okay, it was a little weird, because you were wearing a dress. A super pretty dress that—"
"Why the hell was I wearing a dress!?"
"I dunno! My brain did it! I mean, I did sort of think you were a girl when I first saw you, but your blood's definitely a man's. Or a boy's, hehe. Anyway, in the dream, you were trying to fight a really big fish, and you were yelling something like, 'Get back here, you bastard!'"
'Huh. That's a weird coincidence. Wait, a girl!?'
"I don't look like a girl! Eugh!" Linnie said. Then he muttered, "I'm gonna walk ahead."
She only walked faster to match him.
'What the hell happened to Alwyn and Aliza entertaining her? Why's she glued to me now!?'
"You know, fish really are bastards, though. Did I already tell you about the time I went swimming and something grabbed my foot? It was the first time I ever went swimming. And the last, too, now that I think about it. I kicked it, and it turned out to be a log, but still, I was prepared.
It's important. To be prepared, I mean. My dad always said—well, actually, he didn't really say anything because I never met him, but I feel like if I did know him, he would've said something like 'always be prepared for anything,' y'know?"
"No..."
"Exactly! That's what I thought too. There's no way he'd say something so lame like that."
Linnie yawned, sick of the girl's ramblings. "Liora, can you just... stop talking for a bit? My head's hurting real bad right now, so it's like, you're super annoying. Yeah, you're annoying."
She blinked at him.
"Oh! Yeah! Sure! Totally!"
Five seconds passed, and Liora was clearly struggling. It seemed she was quite restless today.
"Actually, one more thing—"
Linnie groaned, on the verge of tears. He had never met someone that spoke so much in his entire life. And usually, if they did, he'd beat them. But, that wasn't an option here for a few different reasons.
"—I just remembered that I saw the prettiest, craziest bird earlier, and you have to hear about it because it was blue but also kind of green and also kind of purple depending on how the light hit it, and it did this weird little hop instead of flying—"
Linnie stared ahead, his jaw tight. His ears were actually ringing and he could feel his soul leaving his body.
She kept talking, and he kept walking, and Corvailles couldn't have come fast enough.
Alwyn was explaining to Aliza the plan for once they reached the city. It was surely a boring conversation, but one that Linnie would've much rather been a part of than being put on babysitting duty. Wasn't the girl supposed to be older than him?
"The hop was like this, look!"
Liora tried to demonstrate the hop while walking, nearly tripped, caught herself, and then kept talking as if nothing happened.
It was quiet for a moment, but then a long breath escaped her as she clasped her hands behind her back.
"Soooooo..."
'Oh no.'
"Let's play a game!"
"I don't feel like it," he said.
"It'll be fun!"
"I doubt it..."
"You don't even know what game I'm talking about!"
"Unless it's something actually fun like football or boxing, then the answer is still no. And we can't play football while we're walking, and I'm definitely not boxing you," Linnie snickered.
She ignored him, saying, "Okay, so the game is: you say a word, and then I say the first thing I think of, then—"
"Booooring."
"—and then you say the first thing you think of! And we go back and forth! It's good mind training. And great for bonding, I think! And maybe for healing trauma? I think I read that somewhere. Don't you wanna bond, as apprentices?"
"You can't even read, though?"
"...I heard it somewhere, then! Let's heal our trauma together, Linnie!"
"No."
"Huh. That's a really good one! 'No' makes me think of... a door. Because they always say 'no' before slamming the door in your face. So, now you go! Door makes you think of what?"
'Who is 'they,' anyway!?'
"Silence..."
"Ooooh, 'silence.' That's... deep! Silence makes me think of snow, because it's so quiet when it falls."
'Hmm... snow. Aha!' Linnie thought.
Somehow, he'd become sort of invested in the silly word game.
"Hair."
"Ok, that one doesn't make any sense!"
"Huh!? How's that make no sense? Your hair's white as snow!"
"Oh! My hair? But it's not white. Look closely!" She grabbed it, pushing it towards his face. "It's just a super light blonde, see?"
"It's definitely white!"
"It's not white at all!"
"Fine, it's not! I lose!"
"No, you can't lose this game. I just go now, off my own word. Okay?"
Linnie started speed-walking, and she started skipping to match pace with him.
"Snow makes me think of soup, because you eat soup when it's cold! Which, actually, reminds me. Have you ever tried garlic soup? I haven't. That's because, apparently, Siaryns and Siarath are allergic to garlic. Isn't that weird? Maybe the garlic's afraid."
Her face turned sad, all of a sudden, and she continued:
"It probably hates me. But maybe I'd like it. It might even be my favorite food if it didn't hate me—can soups even get afraid? Probably not. They probably should, though. Some soups, I think, deserve to feel fear. I once had to try a soup that was so gross, it made me want to puke. But I had to eat it all. Yuck."
Linnie wondered if he should just lie down and let nature reclaim him, like a corpse.