Chris found that Robin was as good as Dani said she was. He figured it was her High Guard training - an alert eye for detail and a well-trained memory came in handy in her line of work, but they also made her an excellent assistant.
As useful as she was and as much as Chris was aware that Robin was a victim of circumstance, he couldn't help resenting her a little bit. He could also admit to the constant, nagging bit of fear which kept telling him she would make him slip up somehow and the guys would discover the truth. So, outside of FuMan business, he had trouble being more than civil to her. The others picked up on his cautious attitude and behaved accordingly. Everyone was polite to Robin, but she was never explicitly inivted out with them, or included in even a card game. She melted into the background in public, and on the bus, took up as little space as possible, all but ignoring the goings on around her. When not working on FuMan details, more often than not she sat at a table and did random tarot spreads. Sometimes she would knit. For some reason this amused Chris greatly.
Other times, when Justin was very, very bored, he bugged Robin to teach him "Welsh". When every last amusement the bus had to offer ceased to amuse him, he would sit and point to things, attempting to imitate Robin's replies. These sessions usally ended with Robin more bored that Justin had started off. One of the few things Justin was bad at was picking up languages. His accent was beautiful, but he could point to the same twenty things four days in a row and still forget their "Welsh" names on the fifth.
The sound of Justin uttering even a few syllables of Elven had a double-edged effect on Chris. On one hand, it was like coming home. Despite being his second language, there was something about Elven that called to Chris. He dreamed exclusively in Elven. Hearing it from the lips of someone he loved gave him a little extra joy. At the same time, he knew that the more comfortable he was with spoken Elven on the bus, the more likely he was to say something that Justin would know he hadn't learned over the past month.
It was almost a relief the afternoon they discovered Justin had a fever. J.C. fled to the two man bus as a matter of course, leaving Chris to coddle the mildly ill boy - when he wasn't actually working Justin was far from being grown-up when he was sick.
After having tucked Justin in and supplied him with some medicine, a cold compress, and water, Chris sat on the edge of the sickbed, stroking Justin's short hair.
"Chris?" Justin murmured, the medicine already kicking in. "Sing for me? Your mother's song."
Hiding a grin at the permission he'd been given, Chris nodded and began to sing in Elven. Years ago, he'd explained it to the guys as a lullaby his mother had sung to him. It wasn't quite a spell, just a simple request to Ashkala for wholeness and peace. More often than not, Ashkala answered prayers, and he'd found it soothed away minor ills they all suffered on the road.
When Justin drifted off, Chris found Robin sitting stiffly, glaring out the window. The song had brought a little peace to Chris too, and he found the courage to ask, "Is something wrong?"
"I would not question you, saiea."
"If I'm your Lord, I'm responsible for you too. Drop the protocol and tell me what's wrong."
"How could you?" As if a dam had broken, Robin threw the words at him. "You waste a prayer like that on a silly little mortal? That's not a song, not like you know it. It's a sacred thing, not a lullaby for every stupid child..."
"I know what it is!" Chris surprised himself by snapping back in Elven. "She's not just your God, Robin. She's mine too. Justin needed Her help and I asked for it."
Her eyes widened into deep purple pools. "You... stupid halfling! You don't even know what you're talking about!"
"I know exactly what I'm talking about." Chris was very angry now. An angry Chris was a very quiet Chris. "I love Justin. He doesn't heal fast when he's sick, and he would just work through it all. I didn't want to see him suffer. You would do the same thing for a friend. His life is worth just as much to me as any of your elf friends are to you. He may be mortal, and maybe I'm a stupid halfling but we are both sons of Ashkala and you had better start remembering that right now."
"How... can you?" Robin repeated brokenly. "Ask Ashkala to let you continue on this path? In this dirty, stuffy, forsaken world? Among those who can't even see properly. Who can't fly? Can't love?" Silent tears dripped from her cheeks. "How can you thank Her for your position in life? You're alone in this world, don't you see that? Away from your own kind. You ask Her for serenity for you and yours when you should be begging Her for change."
Robin was homesick. Chris softened. He switched to English. "Can't you go home? Just for a visit?"
She shook her head, still sniffling. "I can't leave you unprotected. I wish..." but she caught herself and fell silent.
"What?" Robin ducked her head, refusing to answer. Chris persisted.
"I won't be angry, I promise." He laid a reassuring hand on her arm.
"I wish you'd go back," she whispered timidly.
"I can't." He drew back as if burned. "Even an hour there is seven years here. You know that."
"You can visit in your dreams."
"You can't?" No wonder she was so homesick.
She shook her head. "Only the Royal Family has that gift."
"But my mother..."
"She has lain with the King, touched him as he dreamt." She slipped back into Elven and her language got more formal, as if trying to remove herself from the implications of the statement. Chris frowned, getting it anyway.
"I..."
"I know, my Lord." They sat in silence for a while, Chris staring at the floor, Robin staring out the window at the world passing by. Eventually, she spoke in English again. "Teach me to love this world."
"It's not that hard, Robin. You just have to let it in."
She laughed. It wasn't as bitter as he'd expected it to sound. "How can I? I'm pretending every minute of the day. It's part of my job to keep the world out."
"You could do it slowly," he suggested. "Start with me."
"With you?"
"Yes, me!" Suddenly tired of being serious, Chris scrambled over to the PlayStation and started sorting through the games. "I'm bored. You never play with me."
"Play with you?"
"Is there an echo in the room? Hellooooo?" Robin didn't quite laugh, but she smiled and that was something.