Liorit Mila Saëns had gotten her middle name from her mother. Alona Mila Elezar, a trilingual wealthy socialiate from Idon, one of the wealthiest countries in the world. 

Lior looked nothing like her mother. She was taller, less shapely, and a different genre of feminine. Her mother had been curt to the right people, and kind to others, whereas Lior was curt to everyone. She had to be. She didn’t want to be.

She’d walked into the tavern fully expecting to argue with the man at the door—women weren’t allowed to enter a majority of the local taverns—but it looked like Valkom had found the one tavern in Dofec that didn’t care.

The Bevij heir was sitting at the bar midway through his second drink. It didn’t surprise her that he hadn’t waited for her, or that he’d helped himself to the drink he ‘ordered’ for her. He did this frequently. 

“I almost thought you weren’t coming,” he remarked. He waved the bartender over and ordered another two beers. 

“Val, it’s eleven in the morning,” she slid onto the stool next to him. “I thought you’d at least wait another hour before getting started.” 

“It’s the time difference between here and Bevij.” 

“It’s ten in Bevij right now.”

“Exactly, you haven’t had your morning mimosa.”

The bartender set down their beers in front of them , and Lior gently requested water for the Bevij heir. 

“These aren’t mimosas.”

Glancing around the tavern was relatively empty, a few stragglers that were clearly tourists were scattered about in small groups, talking amongst themselves. So it was quiet enough to have casual conversation, but thankfully not too quiet that she had to put up with her own thoughts. 

“What’s wrong with your face?” Valkom asked, sensing disorder. He propped his elbow aganst the bar and turned to her. “You look like something is pissing you off.”

“Nothing, it’s just my face asshole,” she snapped back, despite knowing that Valkom would get the truth out of her before the end of the day. She changed the topic, from her troubles to his. “Is it true that Princess Unah asked your father for an annulment.” 

“So he says. Not sure who is more pissed, him or her. He could just be telling me that because he’s annoyed that I came here when he explicitly told me not to.” He took a swig of his drink and Liorit did the same.

“Or…” She offered another equally likely scenario, “She’s rightfully upset because you chose to come here with another woman instead of going on your honeymoon.” 

“Two other women. Technically,” he noted smartly. 

She shook her head slowly. “You’re such a dick.” 

Watching him however, she noticed a shift in his posture and tone. A second of clarity. A sobriety she hadn’t seen in him since their early teens, back when they lived in Zapide and things were easier. Back when the things that scared them weren’t so bad, and the real threat was far off in the future. They were playing with candles, making wishes, for things that could not be. 

“I keep telling you Lior, it’s not like that with Nikase.”

“Oh, I know, she’s too smart for that.” She scooted the glass of a water closer to him. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you want it to be. You’ve made that quite clear.”

He drew a line in the condensation on the glass with his index finger. “I do and I don’t,” he admitted. “I don’t want to complicate her situation further.”

"Yeah. So don’t complicate it.” Although, from what she knew of her lifelong friend, was that complicating things was exactly the sort of thing he would do. 

He reflected on the same thought. Fighting the urge to divert from the topic with his wit. 

“I’ll try not to.” he said. “I will. I know you don’t believe me, and that’s fine.”

"His friend recognized his candidness, “I believe you.” She took a drink. “You’ve been acting weird since you got here. In fact—I’m not in any way encouraging you to pursue this Valkom, read my lips, this is not a ‘go ahead’—but I believe if she were anyone else, she’d be good for you.” 

Liorit had seen the two interact a number of times. Nikase might give people the initial impression that she was timid and quiet, but she had a backbone, one that wasn’t afraid of putting Valkom in his place… and he needed that from other people that weren’t Liorit. 

It helped that Valkom had treaded carefully around Nikase from the get go. He respected that she was a survivor, and for all the assholeness Lior knew he was capable of, she knew that he would never disrespect that boundary of Nikase’s. The same way he’d never disrespected Lior’s own.

“This isn’t about what happened to her ex-husband—” he began to protest.

“You know that’s not what I mean.” Liorit’s glance silenced him. “Her family is old gentry. Powerful. They wrote the Dofec constitution. You can’t just go against her brother’s wishes.” 

Lior’s mother had been from a powerful family. Nothing could keep them from seeing things go their way, especially when it came to protecting the sanctity of the family name. The rules didn’t apply to them because they made the rules.

She added in a hushed whisper, “And this is coming from me, the person who pushes his buttons already. I know better than to go after the man’s sister!”

To that he raised a skeptical brow, she anticipated where she was going with this, and allowed him the short satisfaction. “Do you? I saw you and Onixe the other night.”

“Well, firstly, she’s married, so it’s not technically a problem.” 

“So is Lady Nikase,” he countered slyly. 

“But her father-in-law is trying to get that marriage annulled.” 

Valkom knew that already too, he was just drawing out the argument.

“Then we’re both be single persons with annulled marriages…It’s still not okay, is it?”

They both fell silent as they pondered their individual personal calamities. The ambient nose of the room swallowing their minds whole. There was no music and that was jarring. 

Liorit drummed her fingers on the counter. “We’re not serious,” she muttered.

“Hm?”

“Onixe and I, we’re not serious.”

“True. Not like you and your assistant.” He’d been waiting to play that card, that ass. “She’s who pissed you off this morning isn’t she?” he added, his spirit renewed with the broach of the topic. 

Oh gods, Liorit took a long drink this time, hoping to wash down the sentiment pooling at the bottom of her stomach.

“That’s not serious either,” she said too quickly. 

His eyes narrowed knowingly. Why was it that he was so attuned to Liorit’s problems instead of his own? “You want it to be though.”

“No, I don’t.”

For that he had another card ready. “You know, for an assistant, I haven’t seen her do much assisting. What were her work qualifications again?”

Her lip twitched and the tips of her ears reddened. “She’s clever.” 

While that was only part of the story, it wasn’t far from the truth. 

He didn’t press further on that detail, primarily interested in the initial story. “So why are you mad at her?”

“I’m not mad at her…” This was the truth. The bubbling sentiment in the pit of her stomach wouldn’t allow her anymore lies. “Sometimes, she’s a little too clever for her own good.” 

“What did she say?”

“She asked me why I act as if getting close to someone is the worst thing that could possibly happen?” 

Canelle had said it exactly like that too. Facing the door to her room, avoiding her gaze. 

“So you are getting close to her,” said Valkom, oblivious to her inner turmoil. 

“It wasn’t about us. It was a comment I made about her and the Araullo girl.” 

Bahar had befriended Canelle so quickly, and the issue—her main issue—was that Lior couldn’t read if her intentions ill or not. 

“Oh, she’s getting close to someone else, and you don’t like it,” Valkom’s voice was growing increasingly louder. 

She scooted his beer away from him. “No. I think… I think I’d prefer it that way.”

Her friend rolled his eyes. “So what is the problem then?”

She sighed and ran her hand through her red hair. “I just don’t want her to make the mistakes I made when I was younger.”

She prayed that Val wouldn’t question why she was so concerned over her assistant’s wellbeing. Partly because she did know the answer to that, and wanted nothing to do with the reason. She’d have to admit her mistakes and those moments had been too lovely to be mistakes.

Get it together, Lior.

“Hm. It sounds like she’s too clever for that,” he said to her relief. Although, her celebration was cut short when he added, “What would you do if you did like her? Hypothetically speaking, of course.”

Again, the pit of her stomach, fought off her attempts to deceive him. ““I don’t know if there is anything I could do.”

Their stories, their troubles, and their shortcomings were different, yet they’d found themselves at the same crossroads, One where they could do very little to help themselves.