His indignant tone brought forth a smile, unbidden, from her lips accompanied by a low rasping laugh but with both her whole face softened. Eyes, crinkling ever so slightly at the corners, glimmered once more with life. Her chest still ached and she was torn between continuing to laugh or screaming, neither of which seemed entirely sane to her, but then this was not what Lee would call a normal situation. Choking on another laugh, one far more comparable to a sob than any laughter she had ever heard, the older girl struggled to reign in her out of control emotions. Leading Constans to believe that she was insane was unlikely to help matters.
Sucking in a deep breath she carefully composed her face into a more somber mask; all signs of her distress were furiously stamped down and concealed from sight. Still it was with no small amount of hesitation that she opened her mouth, after all what was she meant to say to what had happened to him? Keep it up hardly seemed appropriate as it would probably not be wise to encourage what could potentially be attributed to rebellion but… but forcing him to obey, stripping him of free will, was inexcusable. She had no idea what to say, what to do. It was so frustrating!
“Come on Wy, darling, you need to speak your mind more often. People won’t know what you are thinking otherwise. Just say it already, would you! Come on. Outloud. How do you feel?”
“Perplexed, to be perfectly honest. I do not see the point of this but... but I shall make an effort if it is so important to you, Adie. I swear to you that I will try.”
“It is important! And don’t you swear to me, just do it. Sheesh.”
A vow was a vow was it not and who was she to break such a promise? “You did… well. Escaping three times all on your own is most impressive.” Her throat was tightening up and she could feel her mouth going dry, every word harder to say than the last. It needed to be said though, Constans had to know. Lee knew, she just knew, she would regret this moment if she never told the boy how she felt. So it was that she took one extra steadying breath for luck before she spoke again.
“I am glad you did though. A little envious, perhaps. I was never capable of getting away. I attempted to do so, of course, but I struggled for naught. The whole time I was clasped securely to a hip and held in arms that seemed so strong that I may as well have been chained down. I could not manage to escape. You are much stronger than I was.”
Offering the boy a bright smile, thoughts of melancholy pushed aside for the time being, she held out one arm, clothing safely held in her grasp. “You should get dressed lest you catch your death from the cold. You have come too far to let a little chill take you now. We may talk afterwards if you so wish it.”