Amrynn’s eyes grew distant, considering. The memories were streaked with motion blur, and ‘not long;’ they opened their mouth to say, only for their thoughts to be interrupted by the soft ticking of a clock.

toc… toc… toc…

…still there?

“Eeh!” They jerked, swiping away the spidery touch. Someone yelped, yanking back a hand. Blinking, they stumbled over an apology. “Sorry. Sorry! I spaced. What did you ask me?”

“You’re fine,” Chris rubbed the offending hand, twisting the watch around her wrist. “I asked how long it took.”

Ah.

“Would you believe me if I said I did not know?”

“Explain.”

“Time is not the same on my planet. We do not have a moon,” They gestured to the lopsided crecent in the evening sky, “and our sun does not set. Night and day are places, not moments. We do not have ‘week endings.’”

“You have a year, though, surely?”

“Yes. And other groupings. But if not for the need to run the world on a schedule, time is just a feeling to me.”

“So… homework doesn’t just feel like it takes a ling time cause it’s boring, it does take a long time?”

“Sort of, yes. In any case, what need was there to track time in space, without a schedule, without even a year? It is all artifical. I could find out. Convert it into days, months, years as you know them. It would only mean something to you.”

If this answer satisfied Chris, Amrynn did not know.