There is a lot about me you don't know -Tales of Arcadia ENG

5-Group Photo

The only 'lie' he had told that day was to Sir Galahad, about the lack of interesting events in his travels around the world. There had been many. Just as there had been many situations that he had hated with all his heart and that had stuck in his brain, not even if he had taken pictures of them.

'Is that it? But she doesn't know it's a lie. I didn't even mention it. Unless she puts two and two together with the vampire talk?'

"I beg your pardon...?" He said, frowning. A slight tension returned to stir in the pit of his stomach like a snake twisting in on itself. He forced himself to ignore it.

Claire's smile widened conspicuously, which confused him to no end.

Seriously, if he had let slip a lie and she had noticed it, shouldn't she have been irritated with him?.... Ashildr would have been furious in her place, criticizing him in a thousand different ways and looking down on him. And the remaining members of his band as well.

So what did she mean? Was it a falsely kind smile? She didn't seem like the person to do that, in all honesty. Was he reading her wrong? Or maybe it was something else?

He didn't understand. And his mind was traveling at a thousand miles an hour trying to grasp the situation, failing miserably. Thus increasing his anxiety even more.

"You're a good teacher," she replied, catching him off guard, and causing him to widen his eyes.

'Oh. It was this then...'

"You've been clear, concise, and patient so far. I couldn't ask for better," the girl added, giving him a gentle nudge in the side. A playful gesture that relaxed him until halfway through. "Thank you."

Shock and mild embarrassment replaced the tension in a snap of fingers. He tried to come up with a decent answer, but couldn't. His mind had emptied so quickly that it left him speechless. Perhaps it was due to the emotional roller coaster he had found himself facing... or perhaps it was because he could not accept certain types of compliments without feeling utterly flustered.

He, therefore, limited himself to a silent nod and a soft "You're welcome... ", said by bringing a hand to the back of his neck.

He did not feel that he had done much of anything. It was Claire who had performed the greater leap of the two. Douxie had barely tried to avoid long nonsense speeches, the kind that began and ended, leaving anyone listening more confused than before... sort of like the ones Toby had given Nari about phones. It was the kind of explanation that brought him into a cold sweat at times. And he had not wanted to inflict the same suffering on Claire, counting the risks already present because of her Magic.

Hisirdoux had been a translator and little more. She had done half miracles. And he ended up saying it verbally, too.

"You shouldn't think that way. She's right, you know. You've been a very good teacher."

Douxie shifted his gaze to Archie, who came back into the room just then. And so to position himself on his shoulder once more. He gave him a scratch behind the ears as Claire agreed with his familiar, through a very convincing nod.

'You're exaggerating, Arch ,' he thought in response.

'Not at all. Quite the opposite, I think you're not giving yourself enough credit. How can it be that for certain achievements you exalt yourself all too easily, while for others you try to put them on the back burner? '

He ignored his familiar's mental comments, feeling the childish desire to stick the tongue out. Desire the dragon sensed, for he rolled his eyes and sighed.