The Translator

Chapter 10: The Group Date

"Perfect!" Fox answers quickly, probably afraid she will change her mind.

"Okay. Thursday, six o'clock," she says, smiling at each of us. "I'll meet you in the foyer and we can walk to the kitchens together. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for dinner."

She quickly heads off up the stairs, leaving us to chat about the date tomorrow. Poor Henri wasn't able to get a word in with the Princess other than a greeting, but the smile on his face says he could care less. He pulls me away from the group and asks me to go back to the room with him before dinner.

"Sir Henri and I need to go freshen up before dinner," I say to our group, giving Kil's outstretched hand a good shake. "We will see you all at dinner. And thank you for including Henri in the date tomorrow night, he appreciates it very much."

"Not a problem," Fox says with a smile, "see you both at dinner."

With that, Henri and I head back up to our room, not speaking until we close the door behind us.

"Oletko kunnossa (are you okay)?" I ask, knowing something is off.

"Eikko, tarvitsen apuasi (I need your help)," he sighs, starting to pace the room. "Sinun täytyy opettaa minulle englantia ennen huomista treffejä (I need you to teach me English before the date tomorrow)."

"Henri, En voi mitenkään opettaa sinulle koko kieltä yhdessä päivässä (I can't possibly teach you the whole language in one day)," I say, trying to reason with him.

"Okei, opeta sitten flirttailemaan (okay, then teach me how to flirt)," he says seriously, coming up to me and resting a hand on my shoulder. "Minun täytyy pystyä kommunikoimaan prinsessan kanssa jollain tavalla tai olen huolissani, että hän päästää minut irti (I need to be able to communicate with the Princess in some way or I'm worried she will let me go)."

"Sinua ei lähetetä kotiin, jos voin auttaa (you won't be getting sent home if I can help it)," I answer, grasping Henri's shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Let's get started then, shall we?"

Switching to English seems to take him by surprise, but after a quick moment a grin spreads across his face as he goes to the desk and grabs his English dictionary. Flipping through the book, he takes a while before responding.

"Can stay here tonight?" he asks choppily. "Umm, dinner here?"

"You want me to see if we can stay and have dinner brought here tonight? So we can work on your English?" I ask slowly, giving him time to absorb what I'm saying.

"Yes yes!" Henri grins after a few minutes. "Dinner here!"

"Okay, I'll call General Leger and see what I can do," I say, deciding to translate after five minutes of Henri staring blankly back at me. "Soitan kenraalille Leger ja katson mitä voin tehdä."

After a quick phone call with General Leger, we are cleared to stay in our room for the night. Once the general learned that Henri wanted to practice his English before the date tomorrow, he was more than happy to arrange dinner to be brought up to our room. Dinner comes and goes quickly and before we know it, it is midnight. It takes a lot of convincing, but I finally manage to get Henri to go to bed by saying that the Princess probably won't find under eye bags very attractive.

We say goodnight to each other and as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm asleep. My dreams are of the group date, the Princess having a fantastic time with Henri, and they quickly take a turn for the worst when something happens between Burke and Fox. Before my dream self can investigate what is going on, I am awoken by a very excited Henri who would like to continue with our English lessons. Letting out a small sigh, I roll out of bed and get ready for what is bound to be an exciting day.