"Ah -- it's not really that important", Adrien mumbled. He pulled his legs together and sat up, moved some of his hair in front of his cheeks, opened the book again, and searched for his place; his painful self-consciousness surfaced on his face in the form of a stifled wrinkle in his brow. He could still hear his own enthusiasm from a few minutes before - it rang in his ears, unpleasant, discordant. He looked down and tried to focus on the next paragraph; he forced his lips to not even twitch as he read some more poppycock about alien mirrors and laser beams. At the edge of his vision, he could see Valerion looking at him, his head slightly tilted, a worried expression on his face; Adrien couldn't help but lift his gaze and lock eyes with him for a second, then he looked down again.

"Is something the matter?", Valerion softly said.