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Axel wasn't the one who smacked Lenore in the face at the parade, but it was sort of his fault that she got smacked in the first place. Or at least partially his fault. The guilt was worsened by the fact that the goldfish he'd won from Lenore's booth had met an untimely end shortly after he brought it home.

Since he was going to be living with Lenore for the next few years, Axel was determined to make it right as soon as possible. He got up early and waited outside Falke dorm, ready to catch Lenore on her way to breakfast. He could have talked to her in the dorm, but he would rather not apologize about the smack and the dead fish in front of the entire dorm. They would have at least a little privacy on the walk to breakfast.

Some people might not be happy to talk so early in the morning, but Axel happened to be one of those oh so dreadful Morning People, to whom the laws of sleep and coffee deprivation do not apply. It did not even occur to him that Lenore might be grumpy.

"Hey, Lenore!"

Axel waylaid Lenore on her way out of the dorm, ready to fall into step with her ... or just stand there hawkwardly, depending on what Lenore did.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?"

Oh, wonderful. Lenore was clearly a Morning Person too. And she didn't seem to hate him. Axel forged ahead, delighted.

"Well, I wanted to apologize. For the parade. When you got bookhanded. I mean backhanded. Sorry."

He hoped Lenore didn't think he was making fun of her, but it was hard to think of that fight without recalling how bizarre Lenore looked in her giant book costume.

"Also, I'm sorry about the fish I got from your booth. I'm sure it's hard to hear this, but it died."

Schooling his features into an appropriate expression of contrition, Axel bowed his head slightly in remembrance of the slowest, roundest goldfish in Lenore's booth. Lenore was probably very sensitive about those fish. She looked like the kind of girl that liked animals.

Lenore had a point about not apologizing for something he hadn't done, but Axel still felt like the whole incident was partly his fault. Also, it would have felt weird to live in the same building as Lenore without ever mentioning it. He shrugged. "Well, if I hadn't been fighting you wouldn't've gotten hit in the first place."

Hooray ... apology done.

"I dunno what happened to it. I think maybe I forgot to change the water. Maybe it was just its time to go."

Axel: Fish care master.

"I'm looking forward to getting those two books I won. Maybe I will the next time we get a day off." Axel looked at Lenore curiously. "Do you like books?"

"Oh, right," Axel said, feeling like an idiot. It wasn't the first time a girl had made him feel stupid in the last few days. It wasn't the worst, either. At least Lenore just looked weary instead of angry.

"Well, I don't know what I want to get yet." Lenore didn't seem too enthusiastic about chatting with him, but Axel was determined."What's your favorite genre?"

Axel was impressed. He had thought Lenore would say something about liking romances. Granted, Axel didn't know a lot about the reading habits of girls in general, but his sister loved the kind of books where people sat around and sighed at each other a lot. They were utterly dreary.

"Oh, I like anything with action in it. And fantasy." Hmmm. What else? "Really, anything where the people aren't just sitting around chatting about the meaning of life. Can't stand those."

Axel was getting hungry despite his Morning-Person-ness, and he started walking towards the dining hall, going slowly as he waited for Lenore to accompany him. They could chat while they walked, right? "Did you bring any books with you?"

Some of the titles sounded familiar. Most were unfamiliar. Axel liked to read books whenever he could, but he obviously didn't have Lenore's dedication. It was slightly awe-inspiring.

"...you managed to fit all those in your bag?" Axel asked, when Lenore paused to draw breath. He laughed. "I don't even have that many books at home."

"That Silken Stone book, I remember wanting to read that. Is it good?"

"It sounds good. I'm going to go to the bookstore the next time we go on leave. Maybe I'll check it out." He was tempted to ask Lenore to borrow her copy, but he didn't want to presume. He didn't know her very well yet, and she might be reluctant to lend a book to a near-stranger.

The dining hall loomed ahead of them, and Axel went to hold open the door for the girl. Some had mocked him for trying to be courteous to women in the military, but holding open doors for ladies was an instinct deeply ingrained in him.

Axel was touched. He was very touched. After he killed her fish and inadvertently got her smacked at the parade, she had every reason to believe he wasn't a careful person. For all Lenore knew, he was a scoundrel, a ne'er-do-well who might return her books dog-eared and fingerprinted and dotted with careless globs of mustard from sandwiches read while eating. "Thank you," he said gravely. "I'll be careful with it. I'll lend you whatever I get, if you want."

Lenore, now. She looked like someone who would be careful with a loaned book. Extremely careful.

Getting his own breakfast after Lenore, Axel gave the much smaller girl a respectful nod. "I'll talk to you later. Maybe I can borrow the book tonight?"

Reading a book sounded a hell of a lot more fun than doing laps.