Aery kept her face expressionless as the boy casually murdered his guard. Peter's eyebrows went up a fraction of an inch. "Dangerous friend, huh?" he whispered in her ear.
Then her eyebrows went straight up at the babbling of the boy with the sword, mentioning that they should come talk to him at the blacksmith's. She, of course, would probably do no such thing. Such a thing screamed "trap!" to her instincts.
Alex went to say something, and she elbowed him hard in the ribs.
"Quiet, and let me do the talking. And Peter, put your gun away. We don't want a scene!"
He ruffled her hair in that annoying mannerism of his. She ignored him, studying the boy at the table with expressionless eyes. The only bit of emotion that she couldn't resist was when he suggested that the boys were lovers. Her hand went to the pencil tucked behind her ear. But she slowly took her hand down as she felt Peter tense up next to her, then forcedly relax.
She laughed as well, albeit a slightly forced one. Gracefully took a seat. The boys, taking their cues from her, sat as well, though rather awkwardly.
"Hardly lovers, sir. More like comrades." Adam said, putting on his polite country-boy accent.
Aery lightly stepped on his foot under the table without shifting her upper body at all.
"Don't mess around with him." She whispered under her breath. "Or we'll all be dead by morning."
Turning back to the boy whose name she still hadn't caught, she flashed a polite smile.
"I'm sorry for interrupting our conversation. The boys are lovely, of course, and they're able to take care of the muscle-work that our profession requires, but they tend to not understand the subtleties of the social system. If I didn't take care of the courtesies, we'd all be dead a hundred times over by now." She laughed, ignoring the boys obvious discomfort. She'd pay for it during hand-to-hand practice later, but right now, not getting killed for seeming disrespect was far more important.