Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Gwenthir here just about got herself mixed up in some rather unsavoury business," Pen answered immediately. "I had no choice but to rescue her."

"I was eating dinner at an inn," Lothiriel retorted, "and you came and sat down."

"You were being accosted!"

"I was making conversation!"

"He was checking you out!"

"..."

For all the years that they had been traveling together, Pen had never gotten around to telling her why he thought she should dress a little more modestly, or why some of the men tried to push him away and steal her attention - and thus it was no surprise that she was still rather innocent in those areas.

"Check out ... books ..." One could almost see Pen's thought process trying to follow Lin's, and that it wasn't quite working. "Huh?"

"What do you mean, Lin?" Lothiriel questioned, her eyebrows rising in curiosity.

Pen raised one eyebrow, looking in Lothiriel's direction. "Well ... I suppose ... in a way it's sort of similar ..."

Lothiriel's expression turned to one of indignation. "Pengolodh! I am not some trinket for people to just ogle and take home and enjoy for a while! Don't you even-"

But what he wasn't allowed to do, she never said - because her eyes widened in sudden understanding.

Lin ignored the boys, sure losing one's manhood sounded painful since it involved being cut, but serious what was so important about one anyhow? Besides the fact it made a person a man?

"How is it similar?" Lin asked Pen, wanting to know what it meant to check another person out.

"Okay," Lin replied with a smile, "I'll wait, you're lucky that time goes faster back where I come from, otherwise you would be answering that question in a few months or something. My big sister's babysitter once told her that, and a few months later she asked after she got older."

She giggled, it was always a bad idea to tell that to a Second.

"Oh! Which reminds me, Lothiriel, you might like to see Feng and Ryu later too, not today because they like to stay with Aliya and her family when we're here."

"Serenity is coming to visit?" Lin smiled at the idea.

That sounded like fun, besides it had been a while since she last saw Serenity. Even if she hadn't changed at all since the last time she had met Serenity.

Lothirel laughed softly. "I did it again," she murmured sheepishly. "One of these days I'll learn to keep my mouth shut. I'm not supposed to say things like that."

It was the curse of having the Sight, having to keep so many things to oneself.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually," Pen grinned at her. "Now come on, before we lose them." And he also picked up his pace.