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For the past two years, he had promised--by implication, if not by word--that if the poor Toscano girl fell in love with him, it would not be unwelcome. Now she and her mother had come down to the planet's surface, to do some "sightseeing." The girl was obviously looking for only one sight: Ender Wiggin. And he was nowhere.
Valentine was fed up. The boy could be bold and brave indeed, except when there was something emotionally demanding that he didn't actually have to do. He could evade this girl, and maybe he thought that was some kind of clear message, but he owed her words. He owed her at least a good-bye. It didn't have to be a fond one, it just had to happen.
She finally found him in the XB's ansible room, writing something--probably a letter to Graff or someone equally irrelevant to their life on this new world.
"The fact that you're here," said Valentine, "leaves you without any excuse at all."
Ender looked up at her, seeming to be genuinely puzzled. Well, he probably wasn't faking it--he probably blocked the girl out of his mind so thoroughly that he had no clue what Valentine was talking about.
"You're looking through your mail. That means you got the passenger log for this shuttle trip."
"I already met the new colonists."
"Except one."
Ender raised an eyebrow. "Alessandra isn't a colonist anymore."
"She's looking for you."
"She could ask anybody where I am and they'll tell her. It's no secret."
"She can't ask."
"Well, then, how does she expect to find me?"
"Don't put on this stupid act. I'm not so stupid as to believe you're stupid, even if you're acting as stupid as can be."
"OK, I've got the stupid part. Can you be more specific?"
"Extremely stupid."
"Not the degree, dear sister."
"Emotionally insensitive."
"Valentine," said Ender, "doesn't it occur to you that I actually know what I'm doing? Can't you have a little faith in me?"
"I think you're evading an emotionally difficult confrontation."
"Then why don't I hide from you?"
She wasn't sure whether to be even more annoyed at him for turning the tables on her, or to be a bit relieved that he considered a confrontation with her to be emotional. She wasn't actually sure she had enough of a hold on him for their confrontations to be emotional--on his side, anyway.
Ender glanced at the time in the computer display and sighed. "Well, your timing, as usual, is impeccable, even if you don't have a clue."
"I'd have a clue if you gave me one," said Valentine.
Ender was standing now, and to her surprise, he really was taller than her. She had noticed he was getting tall, but hadn't realized that he had passed her. And it wasn't thick shoes--he wasn't wearing any.
"Val," he said softly. "If you looked at what I say and do, it would be obvious to you what's going on. But you don't analyze. You see something that doesn't look right, and you leap past all the thinking part and go straight to 'Ender is doing something wrong and I must put a stop to it.'"
"I think! I analyze!"
"You analyze everything and everybody. That's what makes your history of Battle School so wonderful and truthful."
"You've read it?"
"You gave it to me three days ago. Of course I've read it."
