…

“…I heard Sylve and Harrikin talking about it in the night, talking about waiting now because they'd have maybe hundreds of years together, after their dragons changed them…”

harrikin i HATE you. and i don’t care if you both become elderlings and live 1000 years, you’re still like 20 and have zero reason to sit and wait around for her to come of age. a longer life means more time to search for an AGE-APPROPRIATE MATE. yuck.

Alise stooped down and picked up the small glass bottle that had been dropped. She looked at it, then glanced at Sedric in consternation. "It looks like an ink bottle," she said.

Sedric shrugged. His mouth was pinched and his face pale. He looked sick. Carson moved closer to him. Alise slowly turned her gaze on Leftrin. "It's not true, is it? The hunter lied to that boy, didn't he?"

…

"He had a lot of peculiar ideas. But he's gone now, Alise, and what I'm telling you is true. I never agreed to smuggle dragon blood or parts." He looked at her and then added very quietly, "This I swear on Tarman. I swear it on my liveship."

For a moment longer, Alise stood uncertain. Thymara watched her. She glanced from Leftrin to Sedric and back again. Then, Alise hooked her arm through Leftrin's and looked only at him. "I believe you," she said, as if she were making a choice. "I believe you, Leftrin."

i can’t tell if alise and sedric are beefing. clearly, she took sedric’s words about leftrin to heart, but she’s still deciding who to trust. sedric is obviously a mixed bag at this point. earlier, she told leftrin “well maybe you are deceiving me but at least i chose this deception” which…sure i guess.