Later, when Alyssa was in her own thoughts, Leila and Lord Aasen rode side by side with each other. Their horses walked at a steady pace and Thorn wasn't bugging them for attention.
"So tell me Leila what is your favorite flower?" He asked her.
"We don't really have flowers in the desert."
"Surely you have a favorite though, every girl does."
"Then I must be a boy."
"Oh come on! You must like some kind of flower."
"Hmmm," she thought for a second biting her lip, "the desert rose I guess."
"What's so special about it to you?"
"It's blue," she shrugged, "and it only blooms in winter and at night. Plus my mother used to fill my room with them as a little girl."
"Desert Rose it is then. Are you and your mother close?"
"We were, she's dead. And for future reference my whole family is dead," she said a little harsher than she had intended.
"Oh...I'm very sorry. Forgive me, I feel like a snob to keep bringing it up."
"Don't beat yourself, it's nothing. What about your family?"
"All dead too. I never knew my mother and my father wasn't much of a man. My sister took care of me, then she and her son died of the sweating sickness."
"Now I feel like the snob," she said looking down, "I'm sorry," she finally said.
"Well," he sighed, "at least it gives us something in common."
"Its a terrible thing to have in commen."
"I'm sure we'll find something else." He said with a smile, his eyes staring into hers again.