Page 21 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
The Commander turned and led Cyril away toward the infirmary. As they went, Cyril looked back and threw a snarl over his shoulder in Xander’s general direction.
Xander grimaced at the thought of making a new enemy, especially an enemy who had arms three times as thick as his own lanky limbs. He turned away to find Aediene staring at him with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
“You know I can fight my own battles.”
Xander hopped back over to his side of the table to settle onto his stool. “Oh, don’t worry, you made that abundantly clear.” He chuckled. “However, I get in less trouble than you do, so I could better afford the slip up. Besides, I am a Defender, not a Warrior, so the Commander can’t do much to me anyway.”
Aediene looked at him curiously as she gathered her book up from the table. “Still, you didn’t have to take the fall for me.”
“Nonsense. I have far too much fun watching you taking on those meatheads for you to have to stop.”
“So, you watch me do that regularly?”
Xander looked down and rubbed the back of his neck again. This time, his sheepishness was not feigned. “Well, that’s not… You do tend to make quite a scene.”
Aediene giggled at his awkwardness, and Xander couldn’t help but hope that he could make her laugh like that more often.
She gestured to the stool across from his. “Do you mind if I join you?”
“Of course not.” Xander shuffled a few of his stacks of paper out of the way to make room for her book as she sat down.
Aediene settled into the seat and reopened her book, resuming the twirling of her knife between her fingers.
Xander had a smile on his face as he looked back down at the parchment in front of him. He still couldn’t focus on the sixth element of an effective ward, but he found that he didn’t care.
