“It does get better, even before Brandon took over,” she comments. “But he never was able to get away from that idea that he had to tell you what everyone was doing. Like, I’ve heard people complain that Tolkien is boring because he’s so descriptive, but I never thought that, and I definitely find parts of the Wheel of Time boring. The Stormlight Archive is so much better. Here,” she added, holding out the thick book, “you can borrow this one and when you get done tell me what you think. He does the most amazing magic systems.”
Stiles laughs a little, reaching out to accept the book carefully with long fingers. “Tolkien’s strength wasn’t story telling, it was world building and language. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the story’s awesome too, but I kind of like the movies better because there’s something about seeing it all visualized without having to claw through the dry writing. I mostly gave up on Wheel of Time after Jordan left my favorite character buried in rocks for a whole novel. Are—are you sure about this, I feel like you barely know me, I could be some kind of terrible book-sitter.”
“Exactly!” She sits forward so hard she’s almost off the edge of the chair, and excitement makes her gesture madly to emphasise her words. “The movies, well the Lord of the Rings movies anyway, only really have one flaw. I will never forgive Peter Jackson for what he did to Faramir but everything else was pretty much perfect. Did you read the Silmarillion yet, or the Unfinished Tales? It’s so cool; Tolkien is my reminder that it’s okay to take my time and figure things out before I put them down in words.”
It takes her a while to remember that he’s worried about damaging her book. “It’s okay, if you mess it up I can buy another one. It’s the story that matters, not the physical container of it.” Besides, a) he did go to all that effort to find her and restore Helios, which says good things, and b) she’s cheating and it’s not hard to tell that while he is twitchy and as excitable as she is, he’s a good person. So she’s not worried about the book. And if he borrows it, and then maybe some others, and they talk about them, those are excuses to see him again.
And she kind of wants that more than she’s willing to admit.