She crossed her arms and glaring at him. His smile broadened, annoying Echo more, until she realised. Her words meant that she liked him. She was embarrassed, but kept her glare on him without a single twitch of her muscles.
Ryder was still waiting to be carried. "Can you carry me?" He finally asked, waiting for the adults to finish their conversation.
Echo's eyes widened, as she turned her head to look at Ryder.
"You've lifted such a heavy sword, how hard could lifting a child be to you?" the commander asked, earning a glare from his wife. He smiled, while nervously looking everywhere but at her face.
"You think that carrying a child is as simple as carrying a sword? You…" she held her tongue, when she picked Ryder up, and glared at the commander.
The commander lowered his head, with a defeated smile. It was the first time Echo had seen him bend his head to anyone, and now she saw why Jasmine was never worried about him.
Jane walked through the curtains with a smile, "He's going to be okay. He needs some more rest, but he's fine."
Echo sighed in relief turning to Damon, "Now that that's dealt with. Let's go, or Hunter might go crazy staying at home alone."
Jasmine looked at Echo, and then to the commander. She stared at him for a while, until he turned to Echo and Damon.
"Meet us at dinner tonight," the commander ordered, without explaining much.
Echo looked at Jasmine and then at the commander. She was confused if it was an invitation, or an order.
Jasmine waited for her husband to explain, but when he didn't she explained, "What my very ungentlemanlike husband is trying to say is that we are having a large dinner today. Jane and Sebastian will be there too, and we would like to invite the both of you and Hunter along too."
Echo turned to Damon instinctively, as she usually asked her parents or the witches when dealing with things like this. Instead of a reply from him, she received a genuine questioning look from him. She passed the same look to him, who then gave a confused stare.
Turning back to Jasmine and the commander, who were wondering what they were silently communicating with each other, Echo smirked, "Okay! We'll meet you guys at dinner then." She nodded her head, and glared at Damon while walking to the door.
Damon turned to follow her without any expressions on his face, though he was confused as to why she suddenly turned to him as if she was asking him for permission. Without thinking much about it, he walked beside Echo.
"Are you feeling better now?" Damon asked, as the two of them walked down the corridor. His voice carried a hint of worry, otherwise it was emotionless.
Echo had her poker face on, "When was I not feeling good?"
Damon raised his eyebrow, "Were you not worried about Sebastian?" His question was genuine, but he was not at all happy that she was worried about him, but then again it only meant that she had a conscience and was still the same girl he used to know.
"Pfft! The only worry I had was that he would still be alive," she replied with a small smirk, and winked at Damon, who smiled at her actions. She turned back forward as they arrived at the lift, "Why didn't you say anything when I asked you if you wanted to visit the commander for dinner?"
Damon turned to look at her face, "Was that what that was?" He casually put his hands in his pocket, and looked up at the glass tube waiting for the lift. He then continued "That looked more like you were asking my permission to go… and isn't this your place? Shouldn't you be the one making those decisions? I'll just tag along!"
'Just tag along!...' The last words of his sentence were stuck in her head. What did he mean by that? Did that mean he just followed her around? She was confused, it was hard to understand what was going on in his head right now.
The lift arrived, and the two stepped in, doing everything in sync, until they turned around to face the door.
Once they arrived at their house, Hunter rushed towards them, as if they had been gone for years. She was running around in circles in excitement.
"You guys came back! I was so bored. I thought you forgot me… you didn't forget me right?" the cub asked, as she kept running around in circles.
Echo knelt down and the cub ran to her. She hugged the cub in her arms without thinking much. Damon, who was watching everything, couldn't help but smile at the cute scene unfolding in front of him.
The day passed soon, while Echo and Damon finally had some privacy. It was soon evening, and the two were dressed up for dinner.
Echo was dressed in a shiny white tight fitting t-shirt and jeans. Opposing her, Damon was wearing all black, and had raised his hair up, exposing his otherwise covered forehead.
Stepping out of the house, along with Hunter, the two knocked on the door of the commander's house, and glanced at each other.
The door opened revealing a young girl who looked around sixteen years of age. She glared at both Echo and Damon.
"What business do you have here?" the girl asked, with a cold and unwelcoming gaze, just as the commander did when Echo had first arrived.
The smile Echo plastered on her face hoping that Jasmine would open the door vanished, and there was no trace of it. A cold look replaced it, as she put her hands in her pocket, and stared back at the girl.
"We're here for dinner," Echo replied, forgetting everything about being friendly. At least now she saw that one of the children had inherited the commander's cold trait too.