Page 15 of Heart’s Prisoner

Lana went to her chair and sat down. She placed her tablet on her lap and watched Xerus with caution before saying, "Is it alright if we talk?"

Xerus turned his head. "Is this not talking to you?"

"I meant seriously talk. I'd like to ask you a couple of questions."

Xerus moved back toward her, stopping an inch from the glass. "You're asking me?"

Lana shrugged. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Xerus observed her extensively and Lana let him even if it felt like an eternity. Slowly, he lowered his body till he crouched before her, now nearly eye level.

"And what do I get in return?" he asked, his breath lightly fogging the window.

Lana didn't know why but she couldn't fully meet his gaze. The heat of his eyes made her squirm in her chair. In a low voice she asked, "What do you want?"

She caught his strange smile, the flash of silvery black in his grin. "Besides wanting to be free and to rip out the entrails from more than a few of your soldiers? Not much. But..." he tilted his head in a sort of shrug and sat back. "Since I take it that's not an option, then...I'll think about it. For now, I'll allow you to speak."

Lana let slip a little smirk. Such arrogance for someone in a cage. She opened her files and notes on the work pad, trying her best to ignore Xerus' stare.

Thinking carefully over her words, Lana began with "When the military men brought you here you were put on a ship..."

Xerus waited for her to say more.

"...what was your reaction when first seeing it?" Lana asked.

Xerus flicked his tail. "What do you mean?

"I mean what did you think of it? Did it frighten you?"

"Did what frighten me?"

"The ship."

"Why would a ship frighten me?"

Lana began typing on the pad. "So you knew what it was?"

When Xerus didn't respond Lana glanced up to see him glaring at her with narrowed eyes and a tight mouth. "The ship didn't frighten me."

Lana nodded, continuing to type. "Were you curious then? About what you saw? or what you were seeing when put on the ship?"

"Not really."

"So you've seen technology before?"

Xerus clicked his claws on the ground. "Your technology did not surprise or fascinate me or make me curious."

Lana observed his expression which she gauged impossible to read. It wasn't like he wasn't answering her questions but why did they seem...dodgy?

Lana tapped her ISpad. "I want to show you a few images and I'd like you to tell me what you think of them." From her ISpad, Lana brought up a picture and, with the window controls, sent the image to be displayed before both of them on the glass. The picture was of fire.

"I know what fire is," Xerus said.

"Right but does it mean anything to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"As in, do you see it as a tool, or a god; or maybe as some kind of resource, like fuel?" Each question Lana asked she noticed Xerus' mouth growing tighter.

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