Blackfeather Woods slow motion

This conversation struck Potema as strange the moment she heard him speak, despite the bright smile that she had so missed on her brother's face. His speaking patterns had changed so suddenly. Had Cicero been younger, she might have written this off as merely a shift in interest, or him finally growing up, but Cicero was an adult, had been an adult for a year now. She is taken off guard by his use of I , then by his shifts from he to Cicero. It makes the woman feel even least comfortable than she did when he arrived, but she listened nonetheless. No matter what change came over Cicero, when he sought someone else out, it meant something. 

She did not move her children away from the conversation, their slumber too deep for her to worry about eavesdropping, more perplexed by his shift in pronouns and POV even as she accepted his admission. She blinks at his final words. Cic....Cicero, She begins hesitantly, unsure what to call this...person. Who did it then? Xan must have some direct correlation between himself and the actual rapist, why else would Cicero do...that...? Did you...did Cicero..know him?