"Tashi, look at me." "I am." "But I can't see you through that veil." "Then you'll just have to trust me." Ramil smiled. "I wanted to give you the flower just as a boy would give a girl a present--not because you are a princess, or an ally, or for any of those reasons. It came with no conditions, no schemes, except perhaps the hope that you might like me just a little better." "Then I accept it and thank you." Tashi felt a burst of happiness. She'd got it al wrong: he did like her. "So what's next?" asked Ramil, feeling very pleased with himself. "How do you mean?" "What should a boy do now?" "On the Islands, you'd write a poem in praise of my eyebrow," Tashi said teasingly. "Around here, you'd kiss me." She spurred her pony forward, leaving him wondering."