"Where are we going?" I asked almost immediately. I was both curious and in need of a distraction.

     "The Shahid's."

     Nathaniel always made it seem like I had an endless list of questions, but one had no choice but to ask question after question when speaking with him. He didn't care to elaborate on anything.

     "That's Fera's clan, right?" I gave him a little more to work with.

     He nodded.

     I huffed. It didn't surprise me that he was completely unperceptive to my growing foul mood. I usually had more patience for his lacking social skills, but had I just left my family and had no idea when I would see them again. "Do you do it on purpose?"

     "Do what?" He turned to look at me then, as though astonished that I might be peeved.

     "Completely discourage any conversation that you deem unnecessary by being as evasive as possible. You would save yourself a lot of time by actually answering a question."

     "You asked me where we were going," he retorted plainly.

     "Yes, but you must have heard the silent questions that came with it. Deep down you knew what I was really asking."

      "We need to find you a weapon," he explained. "The Shahids are the sword-smiths of the Legion."

     "Ah!" I pointed. "That. That is the kind of elaboration that normal people include in conversations. Thank you."

     "You're welcome?"

     "Another point." I clapped my hands. "You acknowledged my appreciation."

     "Do you do it on purpose?" he challenged in turn.

     "Do what?" I frowned. Teach people my own age how to hold a respectful conversation?

     "Irritate people so much that they respond with the hope that it might silence you for even just a few seconds."

      I narrowed my eyes at him, but a small smile tickled my lips. Despite the insult, it was nice to hear him speak without taking so much consideration in carefully choosing his words.

     "It comes with more effort when it comes to you," I admitted. "It's the best way to get you talking. Plus, I seem to recall you telling my parents that my lacking silence would be beneficial."

      I expected an amicable joke about telling my parents what they wanted to hear or a blatant admission that he was lying. Alas, Nathaniel was far different than most boys I knew.

     "I said that you were likely to trigger change in the Legion and that you couldn't be silenced," he said. "Not to be mistaken as a lack of fear that you will say the wrong thing, because I have no doubt that your words will cause danger, especially for our clan. But the change we need, the end of this brewing war, will not occur without some kind of danger, and I think you'll be the one to trigger it all."

      I was rendered speechless for a few moments. Only a few moments, because if there is one thing that I have always recovered from quickly, it's communication. I puckered my lips at his words.

      "I'm not sure how that's supposed to make me feel..." I answered honestly. Once again, he insulted me in a sort of complimentary way.

      "I gave a go at answering the silent question in your words. It's not my faut if you don't like how I choose to answer."

      "It wasn't a complaint," I said. "I find your occasional brutal honesty refreshing."

      "I find you strange, not just occasionally, almost always."

      I grinned. He was almost cracking jokes. I was beginning to crack him open. If we were going to spend so much time together, he had to get used to me. I was slowly breaking him in.