Beauty's smile went from excited to strange. She pulled back slightly. He'd been many things to her, but flat-out insulting had never been one of them. Although her mouth didn't quite lose its curl, Beauty gave him a look that said, 'What's gotten into you?'
And then he gave her what looked like an appraising look -- one she recognized from the bookstore. It reminded her of the time they met, a memory that still made her terribly uncomfortable. Even though he'd promised never to... to do that again, she stopped meeting his eyes.
She stopped, that is, until he said the things he did about the City. Or specifically, this city. "Thomas is the City," she said. And then she immediately looked away again -- but not out of fear. No, now she was looking for something. The walls. The ever-present confining walls of Thomas' City. 'The only other city near here is...'
The first time she'd been pulled away from her home, she didn't know what had happened. She'd been terribly confused. But this time... This time, there was no bout of hysterics, no panicking. Shock -- yes. Yes, shock. Fear -- yes. But also... sadness. Acceptance. And finally, as her shoulders squared and she lifted her head again so she could look not-quite-directly at Eric: