"She's with Swift. They can communicate without words. Since Mage Alera has so much trouble socializing with people, because of what the Mage Guild elders did when they were training her, her relationship with Swift means a lot to her."

"Yeah," Jason said. "Relationships are important." He frowned, looking at the fire instead of at Kira.

"You had a good time today, right?" Kira asked. "Wasn't it amazing?"

"Yeah," Jason repeated. "But anything with you is amazing."

A slowly growing suspicion crystallized inside Kira. "Jason, are you in love with me?"

He didn't answer.

"Jason, please tell me."

"Yes," he said reluctantly, "I think I am."

"Oh, that's just great," Kira said, exasperated. Her sense of contentment vanished. "Here I've been starting to believe some of the nice things that you've been saying about me, but now I can't believe any of it."

"Why not?" Jason demanded, finally looking back at her.

"Because love makes people delusional, Jason! You aren't seeing me anymore. Your delusions are causing you to see some illusion of me that is far, far better than I could ever actually be."

"I don't think I'm delusional."

"Of course you don't think you're delusional," Kira explained. "That's because you are delusional."

"How do you know?" Jason said. "Have you ever been in love?"

"Me? No. Just a crush. But Mother told me about it, and Father confirmed it. My father is the smartest, most rational man you will ever meet. He truly is wise. But when it comes to my mother, he's hopeless. He thinks my mother is better looking than Aunt Asha. I asked him. He actually said that. And no woman could possibly be better looking than my Aunt Asha."

Jason frowned at her. "Your Aunt Asha is really good looking?"

"Yes. You probably saw her the day your ship landed. She was the Mage with long blonde hair."

"That one? Yeah, she was pretty hot," Jason admitted. "But she's not better looking than you."

"Oh, blazes, you are in love with me!" Kira threw up her hands in frustration. "Stop it!"

"Kira, what if you have things backwards?" Jason asked. "You think I fell in love with you because I'm delusional."

"Because that's obviously what happened."

"But what if I didn't become delusional until after I fell in love? What if the real you is what made me delusional?"

Kira eyed Jason dubiously. "You're saying that you became delusional because you got to know me."

"Yes! Exactly! I got to spend enough time with you to get to know the real you!"

"Jason, I know that you mean that well, but basically you're saying that spending time with me drove you insane. I'm sure my mother wouldn't be surprised to hear that someone forced to spend a while with me went crazy as a result, but it's really not a compliment."

"I think it is," Jason said.

"It's not. You really need to work on the whole giving compliments thing. Trust me."