That was an invitation Jess had no problems understanding. "Thank you."

Resisting the urge to look longingly at the knife the man set down like a dog missing its favorite toy, Jess took a chair and pulled it out, moving it around so that they were almost sitting side by side and Jess could keep his view of the room without putting his back to the door. Habit.

The way the other man's accent wrapped around the vowels brought Helva to mind. He hadn't thought about his Scandinavian squadmate in a while, but over the months of their training Jess had heard her lapse into her native language a few times. Their accents sounded similar, he thought. What country was she from? Now that it crossed his mind, Jess wasn't sure she'd ever mentioned it.

Hazarding a guess, Jess said, "Svenska?" He vaguely remembered that was the word for "Swedish," though his accent was probably atrocious.