"John? Is that you?"
What? How did she get here? Should he say something? Should he try and move? Run away? Sneak out and act like nothing ever happened?
"Oh, good! There you are. I thought I heard voices." He sees Elizabeth peak around the sharp corner to find him sitting, playing with little toy soldiers that he had found in one of the bags he had brought along with him. Liz looks down and sees him with his hands on one of the pieces. "What are you doing?"
"This? Oh, nothing really." He scoots all the men over to the wall and tries to act like it's no big deal. "Just passing the time before some of the Athosians come back from the continent and give us some, you know, "Big News"." He always thought air quotes were funny.
She looks unconvinced. "Sounded like a pretty big deal to me. I could hear you practically all the way down the hall."
He winces at that. He didn't think he was that loud.
"So, what battle is it?"
"Hmm?" He looks up and notices her leaning against the wall, both her arms and ankles crossed.
"The battle. What battle were you doing?"
"Oh, nothing. Just a minor skirmish between the Romans and a small Germanic tribe."
"Interesting. Can I play?"
He's surprised. He never figured Elizabeth to be one for this type of game. "You want to play?"
"Yeah, that's what I said." He can see a small smirk forming at the corner of her mouth. "Besides, it'll keep me from running into Rodney and have him hammer on and on about this and that."
"Rodney? No! I can't believe it! It. Can't. Be.!" She looks at him in a way that assures him she knows he's joking, and their eyes lock. It's not long, but it's a telling stare. After a bit she looks away.
"So, who do I get to be?"
"Um," He gathers the pieces from against the wall and sets them up."You get to be the Romans. You'll win, of course, but I'll give one hell of a fight."
She smiles then. "I wouldn't expect anything less."