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Posco gave Lily a rather despairing look and then, with a shrug, moved away. Blanco opened the door to the stable and went in, and after a brief hesitation Lily followed him. The door closed behind them, and Blanco began softly calling for Peony and Hal. Lily did likewise. They searched here and there, and at last Blanco stopped and said, 'Ah, what a silly little fool I am. They can't be here.' He looked towards Lily, but she did not question him, so with a bit of a pout he answered the question he was hoping she would ask. 'They can't be here because they would have either had to encircle the entire building, which we know they didn't do, unless they were running very fast, or they would have had to go back along the way they came, and they would have passed us by.'
'Then shall we go out?' said Lily, her voice light, but a note of anxiousness in her voice. Blanco looked keenly at her, and he sighed. He was more than certain that she wanted to go back to Posco. She was going towards the door, but he called to her to stop, and he went to her, and he looked despairingly at her. 'Miss Lily,' he said after a brief pause, 'would you tell me exactly how you feel about my brother?'
Hal and Peony had made their way back to the Common Room, where Hal had led her to a table in a dark corner of the Inn. 'Oh, come now,' said Peony, laughing, 'we can't hide back here. And why? You have already spoken to me.'
'I'm not done speaking to you yet,' said Hal rather grimly.
Peony sighed. 'How many times must I tell you?' she said. 'I cannot until my father gives permission.' Hal shot her a look of defiant desperation, and seated himself. 'Besides,' Peony went on, 'we cannot hide back here. Blanco would spot us, surely, and Bingo and Marcho have already seen us.'
'Perhaps we would have a little more time alone,' said Hal. 'Peony, when is the last time I have seen you alone?'
'When was the last time it was necessary?' she asked. 'There is nothing you can say to me but what you would say in the presence of others. Anything else you might say I have already answered.' He looked into her eyes for a few moments, and then he dropped his head and sighed sorrowfully. She reached out and touched his arm, smiling. 'Courage, Hal!' she said. 'I said wait; I did not say no. I hope still. Cannot you hope as well?'
Hal gave a nod that was barely perceptible, and he said nothing.
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