Kaleth gave Kateri an encouraging smile after her outburst of frustration. It wasn’t like she threw a tantrum, but he could tell she was at least mildly frustrated with her stutter from her tone of voice when she repeated herself and her posture and the way she drew in a breath. He’d done similar enough stuff before to recognize it.

“No, I never had a stutter,” he admitted, glancing over at the water then back at Kateri. “If I was nervous, I just wouldn’t talk. My brother and I, we’re not exactly twins but we’re close enough that we might as well be. He was always, and still is, the outgoing one who never seems to suffer from any kind of shyness, and we were always together even then. It was like he could sense whenever I was uncomfortable with a situation, because he’d draw the attention away from me and onto himself.”

He smiled softly at the memories. “He was the one who started encouraging to get out and talk to people more. At first I just couldn’t do it, but he wouldn’t let me quit trying and after a while I was able to overcome my shyness. I’m not nearly as outgoing as he is, but now I’m able to initiate a conversation rather than wait for someone to come up to me.”