"If it were not for the enticing mystery surrounding the Order of Nova, the Order of Eclipse would surely be the most popular warriors of the Knights Allegiant. Even after the fall of the Adalian Empire and the waning power of the nobility, they continue to serve as the shields of the last fragments of aristocracy. They are far more common in Vittora than any other country of the Tetriat Alliance, but a contingent of wealthy Coinish residents looking for supernatural protection when venturing outside of the safety of civilization have made their numbers surge in the fair city-state as of late. An Eclipse Knight is the ultimate status symbol: staunchly loyal, terribly powerful, and frighteningly expensive."

-By the Sword and Shield: The Pocketbook on Knighthood

"Sai-em, stand down!" Nemira hauled herself up on her counter then slid off the other side, a much less graceful maneuver than her bodyguard's full vault. "That's my old roommate from college, she's fine!"

It was a little eerie to see how quickly Sai-em's aggression vanished. He slid his sword back into its sheath and stepped away, head bowed and expression perfectly neutral.

"As you command," he murmured.

Nemira brushed past him. A stout, very well-dressed woman wheezed against one of the bookshelves near the door, her round face red with exertion and the dyed blonde strands of her hair quite windswept and in peril of coming undone from her chignon. Her pneuma blazed robustly from her shoulders, gray like the glint of a finely polished blade. Despite how out of breath she was, she still beamed at the sight of Nemira and threw herself at her without a moment's hesitation.

"My dear, I'm so glad to see you after so long!"

"Hello Bea," said Nemira, letting her cling to her elbows. It didn't feel too uncomfortable with her gloves and Nemira's shirtsleeves separating them. "Please knock first, next time." She turned back to Sai-em and gestured between him and her friend. "Sai-em, this is Beatrice of House Rainier. Bea, this is Sir Sai-em, Beast Champion of the Order of Nova—"

The front door swung open again. "And I'm Dame Mue Lynet-wain! Just Lyn if you're feelin' saucy. But now that I think about it, everyone in this room already knows me! Funny that."

A lean Arboreal Lord sauntered into her shop. Or tried to. She and the branches of her slender antlers were tall enough that she had to duck her head under the doorframe, hampering her easy stride by quite a lot. Two curved swords hung at her hips, and she was dressed much like the typical off-duty knight, with breeches and shirt made for ease of movement more than fashion. She had a breezy, swash-buckling aura around her, a stark contrast to Sai-em's austere warrior demeanor. The knight looked at Nemira and gave her a wink, eyes blue like a clear sky. "I see the gods of the flourishing canopy have blessed me with the presence of your buxom beauty once again, my lady! How goes it?"

Nemira, somewhat on instinct, glanced back at Sai-em, and she was quite shocked to see the aggrieved twist of his face as he gazed at the newest intruder. It was the most expressive he'd been around her yet, and not a reaction Nemira had been expecting for one of the knights that had first petitioned her to rescue Sai-em out of Ewald Vale so many months ago.

"You let your charge enter an unknown area before you cleared it first?" he asked before Nemira could answer Lyn herself, and there was an undercurrent of real indignation in his voice. "Or was Lady Rainier simply too fast for you to keep up with, Storm Strider?"

Lyn simply waved a hand at him. "Don't get your nuts in a twist. It's not like you and the lady summoner here were gonna kill Bea."

"I would hope not," said Bea, who still had not let go of Nemira's arms. "I will forgive you for pointing a weapon at me, Sir Sai-em. I intruded in a fashion most unbecoming of a woman of my breeding, and for that, I apologize. But I must ask, do you two know each other?"

"Unfortunately."

"We're drinkin' buddies!"

Nemira sighed, gently pried Beatrice off of her, and clapped her hands. They all fell silent. She strode to the front door and locked it shut before turning back to the small crowd that had filled up her storefront.

"We are getting nowhere fast," she announced. "Sai-em, please bring a few plates down from the kitchen. Bea, Dame Lyn, follow me into the back. We're going to enjoy a few spicy pork dumplings while you explain to me why I cannot go on this mission no one but myself should know about."

“A woman who takes charge of a situation is one after my own heart,” sighed Lyn. “My lady, one day I will sweep you away from the dreary influence of the Beast Champion and—”

“Stop embarrassing me, Lyn!” Beatrice grabbed her knight’s arm in both hands and pulled her down the book aisle, shooting Nemira an apologetic look as she did so. 

Sai-em pinched the aquiline bridge of his nose. He seemed to be praying for patience.

“Go on,” Nemira encouraged, making a shooing motion at him. “It’s poor manners to keep guests waiting, Sai-em.”

He looked like he had quite a few things to say about their “guests”, but instead he simply turned and followed Beatrice and Dame Lyn around the counter.

In the brief moment of solitude that followed, Nemira swiped a hand over her face and shook her head into her palm. This was not how she envisioned spending her first night back on duty.

Thankfully, getting everyone situated went quickly enough. The storeroom behind the front counter had little besides a table to sit and a kitchenette, which made it much more roomy than the front of the shop with its rows of bookcases. Beatrice had taken a seat at the table, her gloves off and bare hands folded demurely in her lap. And for all of Lyn's apparent devil-may-care attitude, she stood behind the noblewoman attentively enough while they spoke to one another as Nemira walked into the room.

"...He has a huge stick up his ass," Lyn was saying. "But he's actually pretty okay when push comes to shove—hel-lo my gorgeous summoner! Forgive my crass tongue, we were simply speaking of an acquaintance of mine. You wouldn't know him."

"You're completely terrible," said Beatrice, her voice much more scathing now that it was just the three of them. "Immediately flirting with my friend and speaking poorly about her knight? Frankly, it's a miracle we have not gotten thrown out of anyone's establishment yet with the way you talk!"

"But I said he was okay!"

Nemira waved their argument away from her. "Insults bounce off Sai-em like he doesn't even hear them. You're fine."

"See!"

"He would be an exception, not a rule!"

Nemira let them bicker and went over to the small back counter. It was crowded with what she considered her traveling essentials: first aid kits and extra jugs of water, packages of non-perishable food, a very careworn aetheric bestiary book on top of a map of Ewald Vale, her shop keys and other bits and bobs to get her through Council missions. Her eyes swept over it, quick and critical. Her supply of ropes were gone, thanks to having to secure Lord Black themselves. In its place was the dark medicine bottle Heteti gave her and a container full of extra dumplings Mila had made. Like the counter below it, it had a formula written into its surface by Heteti's skilled hand. The dumplings would remain warm until she took off the lid no matter how long it had been since they were cooked. She grabbed it and unlatched its lid. Delicious smelling steam billowed out from it.

She heard Sai-em's return not by his footfalls, which were always unusually quiet, but by the clatter of ceramic plates against the table and Beatrice's politely murmured thanks. When she turned around, she gave a little frown. Sai-em had only brought two plates with him.

"Are you two planning to eat over napkins?" she asked, bringing the dumplings to the table and setting it in front of Beatrice with a nod to help herself. She wasn't at all sure that was within the bounds of Vittoran gentlewomanly manners, but she knew Beatrice was a flexible sort of woman despite her upbringing. Indeed, she smiled at the food and plucked a couple from the container without complaint.

"I am your dayam and Lyn is the Lady Rainier's knight," Sai-em told Nemira as he pulled out the chair across from Beatrice for Nemira to sit upon. "We are not eating at all while you two are vulnerable."

Lyn snorted. "So you say. Hold it right there, Missy."

She snatched the dumpling Beatrice had been about to grab and bent down so that her mouth was right over Beatrice's plate as she took a big bite out of it. Nemira did not have any plans to return Lyn's affections even if she started saying them sincerely, but she could appreciate the elegant curve of her long, bare neck all the same. If the Storm Striding Champion of the Order of Eclipse was truly as popular with women as she acted, Nemira couldn't say she didn't understand why.

"All good," she announced, straightening back up and swiping a thumb across her bottom lip. Her long, fishtail braid of light hair had fallen charmingly over her shoulder, while her pneuma emanated in bold shades of violet. "Doesn't seem like it's poisoned."

"R-right." Beatrice's full cheeks had flushed again. Nemira watched as her old friend considered the side Lyn had chomped into with an unreadable expression on her face before she bit into it herself, and felt a strange, rueful sort of kinship with her.

"We finish our plates first," said Nemira, reaching over for a dumpling. "In New Yamba it's bad luck to talk business before a meal."

And so they ate. Nemira was famished after her flight from her mother's house, and ended up eating quite a few of the dumplings on her own. Despite that, Beatrice ate her two dumplings far slower than Nemira thought possible, taking refined little nibbles and pausing to dab at her lips with a lace-edged handkerchief after every bite. Nemira began jiggling a leg under the table, saying nothing but staring at Beatrice with mounting insistence.

“The world ain’t gonna explode if you wait just a bit longer, lady summoner.” said Lyn, sounding amused.

“Or perhaps the two of you wear on the Worthy One’s generous hospitality,” Sai-em retorted. She could feel the low rumbling warning of a snarl building inside him.

Nemira held up a hand, but did not take her eyes off her friend. “It’s fine. Bea’s stalling on purpose.”

“Oh my, have I been found out?” Behind her handkerchief and dainty words, Beatrice smiled. “I beg your pardon, but it occurred to me that the longer I take enjoying this delightful dish — my compliments to the chef, by the way — the longer it’ll take for you to rush off into mortal peril.”

Nemira folded her arms across her chest. “I’m always rushing off into mortal peril, Bea. Let’s hear it: why don’t you want me to do my job?”

Beatrice finally pushed her plate aside and set her napkin down on the table, smoothing it out with great care. “Because I believe whoever sent you that telegram means you nothing but ill will, and is tricking you into doing something far more dangerous than it appears.”