Header image: https://i.imgur.com/Whx6cFG.jpg

Now.

The table wobbled as I hunched over my meal and tried to make myself look as small as possible. Lia looked at me, concerned.

"Something wrong with the food?" she asked.

To celebrate our sale, she'd taken me to her favorite pub, The Sweet Surveyor. There weren't a lot of people here at this time of the afternoon, but I couldn't help but feel nervous. It had been years since I'd been out in public for this long.

I'd ordered buttered lamb. It was probably delicious. I couldn't tell. I swallowed another bite, and tried not to think about the other people in the room. It had been ages since I'd last had dinner with my sister. This dinner was a good thing. Make the most of it.

"The food's great," I assured her.

Seven. Three sitting behind me, two behind Lia, one at the bar, and one by the exit. I could hear them talking. Couldn't we have ordered take out?

She shrugged. "If you say so," she said, turning back to her roast chicken and potatoes.

Hey, isn't that...? The girl behind Lia asked her friend, who was eating a salad.

Can't be. He's been out on a quest or something. No one's seen him in years, her friend said, crunching noisily on a leaf of lettuce.

Yeah, but if he wasn't wearing that stupid hat, he'd look a little like him, y'know?

Lia caught me glancing at the girl, and turned to look back at her.

"She your type?" she smirked.

I shook my head, and gripped the table to keep my hands from shaking.

"No, no, no. Of course not," I mumbled.

Lia tore off a chicken leg and pointed it at me reprovingly. "Not with that attitude," she said. "You should say hello. Make some new friends. You never go outside, you know?"

I shot her a glare, annoyed by the remark. "You know why I don't go outside, Lia," I muttered. "Why bring it up now?"

My sister rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. If you took that stupid hat off, I bet you'd have the ladies going crazy for you!" Her fingers twitched, miming a snatch for my hat.

"Don't you dare!" I hissed, rather louder than I'd intended.

Whispers started, in the tones of those suddenly aware of another, more interesting conversation happening nearby.

Weirdo.

You said it.

Lia lifted her arms in mock surrender. "Okay, pretty boy. Don't bite my head off." She took a bite out of her chicken leg, now with less enthusiasm. I looked down at the rest of my food, regretting the mood change.

Lia put the chicken down, and scratched her head.

"Hey, uh, I've been meaning to talk to you about something," she said.

"Sure," I said, only half listening.

Lia took a deep breath, and nodded. "I was thinking, uh, after we sell the rest of the hero's stuff, I could... I mean, I've been planning..."

Maybe he's with that party that came in today.

Doubt it. See that chick with him? That's Gallia Stonestreet.

"...and I've been saving up some money. I know things didn't work out last time, but I've been getting better, and I really think..." Lia continued, her voice fading in and out.

Ooh. The wannabe with the limp?

I choked on my food. Lia froze.

I hear the army boys still call her Gallie Oathbreaker.

She won't be breaking any more oaths now though, will she?

Truuuee. It's not like she's...going to bend a knee any time soon.

They both snickered. Lia absently dug her knife into the table, the motion rocking the wood back and forth.

I licked my lips nervously. "Could...could you hear that?" I asked, carefully.

Her mouth was set into a grim line, her eyes set into that old, blank stare. She looked at me, her expression unchanged.

"I heard enough," she growled. She stood up suddenly, knocking her glass over. Water spilled onto our food, and onto my trousers. I recoiled, and pulled my plate away. Some of the buttered lamb slopped onto my shirt.

"Should I..." I started to say, the sentence dying halfway out of my mouth.

"No," she forced out through gritted teeth. "You shouldn't."

Lia stomped her way to the bar's exit, passing by the couple's table to knock their plates onto the floor. They shattered, and the two shrieked in horror.

Good, I thought grimly, before realizing she'd left me alone in the pub, wet and dirty, with two spilled meals, and no money to pay for it.

And everyone was looking at me.