"Ah! Quite bright you are, young lord." Eli said, as she passed the candy to him who's eyes were twinkling now. "So tell me… if a soon-to-be knight is being so responsible," she asked lightly, "why is he sitting here all alone, pouting in the middle of a big fair?"
"I'm not pouting!!" She heard him say, while he was unmistakably pouting, cheeks puffed like a sulking squirrel. "I am simply expressing disappointment through my face."
Eli bit the inside of her cheek to keep her from laughing. "Oh? And why might that be? Who has earned your disappointment?"
He sighed once again sounding far too world-weary for a ten-year-old. "My little sister is sick," he murmured. "Before I left, she asked that I bring her a balloon shaped like a rabbit."
"Mm-hmm," she encouraged, listening attentively.
