He turned. Clearly he had been deep in thought. “Cold? Yes, I suppose so. We will put some miles behind us in the dark, and then we will stop. We cannot travel in the daytime, as soon we will be crossing the border and in enemy territory.”
After a few minutes, to distract myself from my increasing discomfort, I asked, “Will they not recognize you in Saxefalia? Is this not very dangerous for you?”
“Oh, I hope it will be dangerous. No fun otherwise. But no, I doubt they will know me. I was ten when I left. I have changed a little since I was ten.”
“I meant the eyes, Aleksey.Theyhave not changed.”
“My eyes? What is wrong with my eyes?”
“Don’t be so dense. They arebrilliantgreen. Do you know how rare a shade that is? I have never encountered anyone with green eyes like yours before, and I have seen more of the world than you.”
“So… you have noticed the color of my eyes, Doctor? I amterriblyflattered.”
There it was again, the flirting. I’d missed it, so replied in kind. “Andyouhave noticed that I am very godlike. Shall we continue with our mutual flattery or think seriously for a moment?”
“Oh, continue the flattery. I love being flattered. I know. I’ll walk around with my eyes shut to hide their brilliant beauty, and we can pretend I am blind and you are my doctor, which is true and will add veracity to my affliction.”
I had a feeling he wasn’t taking this spying mission as seriously as he should. I commented dryly that he wouldn’t make a very good spy if he had his eyes closed, and we carried on in silence for some miles more.
By the time the light was beginning to rise ahead of us, I was so chilled that, dismounting, I stumbled, my legs too cold to save me from the fall. I got up and swore silently. We were possibly in enemy territory, according to Aleksey, and I did not want my voice to carry. We were encamped by a stream with a cliff rising behind us, and we made a shelter with some undergrowth and pulled the horses in close. We could not light a fire but ate cold rations. It did nothing to warm me. Aleksey told me we would have this one day and then one more night of riding, and we would be across the border, well into Saxefalia and able to stay at an inn.
After we had been seated in our small position for a while, Aleksey said out of the blue, “I could not tell you that I was riding with the wagons because we have spies in our camp. I could not allow the enemy to discover that I was injured. You might have been followed, and it would have been discovered. Johan insisted that you not be told, and as I was… incapacitated, I could not reach you myself. There, now you know, so perhaps you will stop being cross with me and tell me something interesting to while away the day. Tell me something more about living with the Powponi.”
“I got the impression you were sick of hearing of them.”
“Not in the least, as long as you are comparing me to one of their chiefs or telling me of their interesting sexual practices.ThatI like to hear about. I do not want to hear that you prefer their company to mine, no.”
“They did not have green eyes.”
He smiled softly and leaned back against the rock face behind us. His thigh was touching mine, something that was distracting me considerably. “Do they have a language?”
I frowned and gave him a look. “No, Aleksey, they have learned to grunt. Two, like this, means you are an arse.”
“Hmm. Teach me something, then. How would they say… ‘I am still hungry’?”
I told him, and he repeated it, glancing at the apple I was eating. I sighed and gave it to him. Munching, he asked, “How would they tell someone they liked them?”
I frowned, trying to remember if I’d ever heard someone say that. It is not something you actually hear every day and sounded odd, now that he had said it. I tried a phrase, and he repeated it. I shrugged. “It means more ‘I am wishing good things for you’ than ‘I like you.’”
He stared into space for a while and then said, as clearly and as well as any of my brothers might have, “I am hungry for you.” He had apparently been able to hear and understand the syntax of the simple phrases and put together his own cobbled statement. I stared at him. He raised his eyebrows and said innocently, “I tried to say that I wished I was not so hungry. Was I correct?”
I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and lowered my chin. “No.”
He mirrored my position. “Are you still cold?”
“Yes.”
“Move closer, then.” I swallowed my pride and did so. “You do not look like someone who feels the cold.”
“Is there a look for someone like that?”
“Well, yes. Someone small and weak?”
“It is fat that keeps you warm, and you may not have noticed, but I do not carry any.”
“Oh, I had noticed. But I am not fat either, and I am not cold. Well, I am not moaning and whining about it anyway.”
“I have not mentioned itonce.”
