In fact, Flordia had spent much of the day watching Burton and all the other people on the vessel.
Burton seemed to be very adept at tailoring his mannerisms perfectly for whoever he seemed to be interacting with at any given moment, and it was actually quite entertaining to watch him.
Flordia also watched the other people on the ship, especially the crew members as they climbed the rigging. It looked incredibly fun, and also somewhat terrifying.
Despite her interest in the happenings of the ship, Flordia's mind had been working all afternoon, trying to come up with the perfect question for Burton. She knew he loved to play games, so she needed a question he couldn't skirt around. Flordia had grown up in a castle, surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than to get one rung higher in the social ladder. She knew people who could, and would, spin a deception so convincing without even telling a lie. They used half-truths, glossed over facts, or just ignored questions altogether and answered a completely different one.
There were many ways to tell an untruth without telling a blatant lie, and Burton seemed exactly the kind of person to employ those tricks.
When she finally thought of a question, she took another hour to contemplate even asking it. And when she finally made her decision, she found Burton whittling.
"I've come up with my question," she said, pulling one of the coins out of her pocket. "Have you ever heard of Kilarhas or Faelis Gindien?"
The wording of the question was not ideal, it would be easy to twist an answer, but Flordia didn't know which of her brothers Burton was more likely to have heard of, if he had even heard of either of them. She hadn't heard from them since they had left the castle over seven years ago. For all she knew, they were living quiet lives as farmers. But Faelis had left to search for adventure, and Kilarhas had been banished for starting a war against orders. They were not the farming type.
