Snippet #1303959

Myr's eyebrows knit together, the smile falling from her face at the more literal explanation for the statement. That was something she had not quite expected...Kain just gave off the air of one of those people who'd always been strong and self-assured. They all did, to different extents. There was a subtext, there, too, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Likely, it had been even worse than he was letting on.

At least he knows his parents, part of her reminded the rest, but it was swiftly quashed. Having one's birth relatives around was nice for some, but it was certainly not the only road to happiness, and she had not suffered at the monastery. No, she had been quite fortunate indeed, and maybe that was what made it so easy to forget that suffering was so commonplace.

He seemed all right, though, and she had no wish to discuss anything that might be unpleasant for anyone, so instead she watched with a measure of curiosity as Kain crept up on Matt's haystack. She thought of asking him what he was doing, but decided against it, choosing to simply observe instead. He jumped a moment later, and she flinched with sympathy for the soreness this was about to cause, but couldn't help the slightly-mischievous smile that she resorted to hiding behind a hand. They were kind of like brothers, actually, though she was never going to tell them that. They'd probably both hate her for saying it. It never really occurred to her that they might have genuine, deep antagonism, because she simply didn't think that way. It looked to her like two people playing a round of tricks in some kind of competition, each trying to outdo the other somehow. What the prize was or when they would stop, she couldn't guess, but wasn't it usually that way with siblings? The ones she'd known never seemed to need a reason at all.

Of course, it turned a little more serious then, and the smile vanished. It was getting harder to make the analogy work. Myr bit her lower lip. "Surely that's not necessary," she put in hesitantly. She understood that there was a process of teaching and learning going on here between the parties, but there was something there she did not quite like any longer, and she felt compelled to placate tempers where she could. "Perhaps it would be best for us all to speak of something else. Matt, if you would please return Kain's gun, I have a question for him. And since you were interested in learning a bit about herbs earlier, the answer might concern you as well."