Excerpt: The Balance World

“Jensen…why doesn’t this bother you?”

He was confused. “What do you mean, it bothers me a lot! That woman was a jerk to you!”

“No, I mean why don’t I bother you. Your father works for the government, I know you were brought up to hate Rebel Children like everyone else…but from the day we met you haven’t acted like this,” Revylan pointed to the scar above his right eye, “really means all that much to you.”

“Well…you’re my friend,” Jensen explained clumsily. "It's different."

“But you knew what I was before you even knew my name. Any normal person would have refused to get to know me at all.”

Revylan plainly had been wondering about this for awhile, as his voice was stronger now and his eyes even brighter with curiosity. Jensen could tell he was dying for an explanation, wondering how they’d come to end up where they had. And Jensen really didn’t have an explanation to give him. He still didn't understand why he'd acted the way he had that day. All he could think to do was answer the question with a question.

He said, “I don’t know. You hate the government, and anyone who works for it…so why didn’t you hate me when we first met?”

“Oh, I did hate you,” Revylan said, smiling uncomfortably. “When I first saw you, when I saw your badge and knew that you worked there…I didn’t want anything to do with you.”

This was news to Jensen. “Then why did you talk to me at all?”

“Because, you did. You asked who I was, you were polite. I wasn’t used to that, being treated like a real person. How could I hate you after that, when you were the first friendly face I'd seen in years?” Revylan looked across at him, finishing with the inquiry, “So, I've got to know, why didn't the fact that I'm a Rech bother you? Why did you talk to me?”

Jensen wished he had an equally eloquently-worded answer, but he didn’t. He thought about it, really thought about it, and the reason came down to a few simple words.

“I don't know. I just wanted to.”