i may not follow, i may not lead, just walk beside me

Avantika nodded as Mercury told her that he and his lessons were going well and that the kids were eager to learn. "That's good," she replied, simply to have something, anything to say. She didn't want him to think that she was normally absent-minded or misfocused.

He asked where her mind had been at. She hesitated for only a moment, before, with shame prickling over her skin in a way that was hopefully imperceptible, giving up the honest answer. "Just thinking, I guess. A bad habit of mine," she said with a slight laugh. She wasn't quite ready to tell him her whole messy story -- both because it was uncomfortably personal and was one of the worst times of her life, and because she still wanted him to respect her, at least a little bit, and how could he if he knew how crucially she had failed back then? How could anyone truly trust her again, now that she'd proven she'd fall apart at any trouble? Her happy face slipped for only a moment before she realized and smiled slightly once more, though it no longer met her eyes.

"Speech"