“He’s always listening.” Perian made a face. “Wait, that sounds way creepier than I meant it to. In appropriate situations where it would not be weird for him to be listening, he’s listening.”
Chamis laughed again, suddenly understanding why people liked Perian, quite beyond his physical appearance. He was a little silly, but he wasalso earnest and kind. “I understand what you mean. Thank you for talking to me.”
“You’ll talk to him?” Perian asked, hazel eyes huge and hopefully.
Chamis sucked in a big breath and blew it out slowly. “I need to think about it a little bit but, yes, I think I will.”
Perian beamed at him. “Take the time you need. I mean, if I were me, I’d blurt it out with no consideration whatsoever, but I can see that you’re actually going to pause and be logical about this, and you should obviously actually do whatever you need to do for you.”
Chamis nodded, smiling faintly again. “I can see what you mean about the similarities between the two of you. You get your energy from the same place.”
Perian nodded. “Yes, that. I’m a little silly, I know.”
Impulsively, Chamis reached out and gently touched his hand before pulling it back.
“Thoughtful,” he corrected. “You think with your heart as well as your head, and you let it guide you. It’s really nice to see. Thank you for thinking of me and him.”
“You’re very welcome. Oh, and sorry for the ambush. I was pretty sure you’d avoid me otherwise.”
A bit embarrassed, he admitted, “I totally would have.”
It wasn’t that Chamis thought that Perian would ever deliberately mislead him. After having an actual conversation with him, it hadbecome immediately clear that he told things how he saw them, and he did not seem to possess any guile. But after leaving Perian and his boundless enthusiasm, where Chamis really had been convinced by what the man said, he thought about it more, and it seemed at least as likely that Perian was seeing something that wasn’t there or was exaggerating something that didn’t mean as much as he thought it did.
Just because it turned out that Bennan was a better listener than Chamis had realized didn’t mean he wanted Chamis.
So he decided to… test the water a little. Besides, it wasn’t like he was just going to walk up to the man and declare that he liked him. The thought made Chamis break out in a cold sweat.
Instead, shoring up his courage and reminding himself that everyone wasnotlooking at him and most people didnotcare what he was doing, he made himself walk over to Bennan after dinner.
“Can I talk to you?”
Bennan looked up at him and seemed stunned, but he accepted immediately.
Chamis had to admit that the speed with which Bennan agreed was flattering. He didn’t even remember to say goodbye to anyone else, just nodded and followed Chamis out of the room.
That was heartening. But Bennan was friendly, they all knew that, so it didn’t mean anythingdefinitive. Chamis was going to do this in small steps.
“My little sister is looking for ribbons and beads,” Chamis said carefully.
“Again?” Bennan asked, lips tipping up in a smile. “Does Dorana have a new dress, or is it Halna this time?”
All right, so that was confirmation from Bennan’s own lips that he’d been paying attention when Chamis had mentioned his family.
“Dorana still,” Chamis confirmed. “She’s fourteen going on eighteen. I think I convinced her the best ribbons and beads can only come from the city. I’m off tomorrow, so I thought I would go and see what I could find.”
If he were Perian, he would have been brave enough to make that an actual invitation, but Chamis was trying, all right?
And Bennan didn’t disappoint.
“I’m off too, and I was just thinking that a jaunt into the city would be the thing to do. Would you like some company?”
Chamis had sort of made it his business to know what he could about this man, so he could say with certainty that it was, in fact,nothis day off. But Chamis was pretty sure that before the day was through, Bennan would figure out how to trade off with someone.
Chamis swallowed. “That sounds nice.”
He didn’t sound completely normal, but at least his voice hadn’t cracked over any of the words. Bennan grinned again.
“Amazing! Did you want to head out early and grab something for breakfast? I heard a rumor about some really amazing pastries.”
