"Then friendship it is," he said warmly. And then he sat back and listened as she dipped and dived through a variety of subjects, from crepes to other friends... and finally into an apology. It was hard to follow her and harder to keep up when she changed topics, but her verbal meanderings had a touch of charm to them. He couldn't deny that.
"I daresay it feels like I know your friends already, now! To be honest, I recognized only about half of the things you said. What are starships? If it's anything like what it sounds, it must be quite impossible. Then again, I've seen my fair share of 'quite impossible' in the few weeks I've been here. Maybe we should start with that. If you don't mind, of course..."
There were soft, fine lines around her eyes, and if it weren't for these, Christian would have thought she were younger than he. She exuded a youth that was wholly removed from what must have been her age. He wondered how old she really was... whether she had a family, children... Such questions seemed impertinent at this point in their acquaintance, and he wouldn't ask them -- yet. But there was something about her that made him want to ask them, nonetheless.