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"Fun, right?" he says, powering down the cycle My legs and back are already sore froe, s in his step

With some difficulty, I slide off as well My knees wobble a bit,in my ears, but I think I’m okay

"It won’t be my first choice in transportation"

"Remind me to take you up in an airjet sometime You’ll stick to cycles after that," he replies as he rolls the cycle off the road, into the cover of the woods After throwing a few leafy branches over it, he stands back to admire his handiwork If I didn’t know exactly where to look, I wouldn’t notice the cycle was there at all

"You do this a lot, I see"

Cal turns back to etstuffy"

"And crowded bars, Red bars, aren’t?" I ask, pushing the topic But he starts walking toward the village, setting a fast pace like he can outrun the question

"I don’t go out to drink, Mare"

"So what, you just catch pickpockets and hand out jobs willy-nilly?"

When he stops short and whirls around, I knock into his chest, feeling for a ht behind his fra deeply

"Did you just say willy-nilly?" he says between chuckles

My face blushes red beneath ive him a little shove Very inappropriate, my mind chides "Just answer the question"

His shter fades away "I don’t do this for myself," he says "You have to understand, Mare I don’t--I’ selfish"

"I’d think the king would be the only person with that luxury"

He shakes his head, his eyes forlorn as they run over me "I wish that were true"

Cal’s fist clenches open and closed, and I can aler But it passes, leaving only an eain, it’s at ashould know his people That’s why I sneak out," he murmurs "I do it in the capital too, and at the war front I like to see how things really are in the kingdo told by advisers and diplo would do"