Zirwyn ap Veltear, Duke of Stonehaven and Cliff Pass and associated territories, stared around uncertainly.

Lily stood and waddled over to Zir, giving him a hug that he awkwardly returned with one arm. He was still young and thin, but his sentient shadow gave him bulk, and the huge axe was new and different.

Lily recognized it as the Axe of Dwarish Leadership that Zir had taken as his prize from the hoard of the Ash Dragon for helping save her, of course, but he had never wielded it before.

“How’s it going, short, dark, and angry?” she asked him, her voice bantering.

“It’s going great, ‘uppy elf,” Zir said back with a smile. Like old times.

Then he pointed back toward the gathering, filled with elves and humans in expensive finery. “Aren’t you… doing a thing?” he asked.

She laughed. “Well, it should be we doing a thing—I mean, you are the first duke of the Reborn Kingdom of Averia, after all. Certainly you’re welcome at this soiree.”

Zir grimaced. “But do I want to attend the soiree?”

“It’s a leadership function,” Lily replied with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t see Leo here.”

“He’s through the gate on a different leadership function.”

Zir sighed. “Yeah. I was hoping to talk to him about some things going on with my realm—I needed permission for some stuff, but I got here too late.”

“Well, I am the regent in his absence.”

Zir smiled. “Speaking of, congrats on getting over whatever hangups you guys had and finally hooking up.”

A few titters ran through the crowd and Lily felt her cheeks growing hot—not that it would be visible through her illusions, of course. “That’s a bit of a… crude… way of putting it.”

Zir sighed. “Sorry. Anyway, I guess I’ll take a seat?”

He walked over to a planter box and set on the edge, his axe pushing plant leaves aside.

Molly clapped her hands. “Well, now that the reunion of lost friends is over, shall we get on to other gifts?”

Another box was brought forward, and Lily slowly opened it, praising the beauty of the bow the box was sealed with as she did. Inside was a beautiful glass flower, done in green and grey, the two colors of Lily’s magics. It was from Ivy Belmoria, and Lily looked across at the young, copper-haired elf and offered profuse thanks for the beautiful object.

But something about Zir being here was making it awkward for her. He was obviously bored, and his face bore the cast of disdain—the tiniest hint of a sneer, eyes that wandered away quickly from the activities, or just fuzzed out entirely, like his mind was utterly elsewhere.

It spoiled the fun to a degree. Zir had been a strong and valued companion once, the first one to join them after Leo, Hugh, and Lily had all made their pact. She didn’t want him to sit hear being bored.

She tried to move through the gifts quickly after that, putting flowers in vases, oohing and aahing, but her heart wasn’t quite as in to it.

***

A few hours later, with the moon high in the sky, Lily found herself alone with Molly and Zir in her central garden room. It was different than being with everyone else. Somehow more comfortable while less fun.

The three of them weren’t that similar, but they had fought together in the founding war, Lily and Molly had been advisors to Leo since the beginning, and Lily and Zir had faced death together at Leo’s side.

It lent them a bond that shared interests wasn’t enough to give.

“You were killing the vibe, Zir,” Lily said, leaning back in a chair to stare at the sky and give her belly a bit of room. “I was having a wonderful day celebrating my impending child. Couldn’t you have joined in the merriment just this once.”

Zir was flipping his knife up and down—the same nervous tick he’d had fifteen months ago when they had first met. “Sorry, I probably should have. It just felt so… fake.”

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Fake? Lily thought, her own worries rising to the surface of her mind.

“A celebration of fertility is not fake, Zir,” Molly said from where she lay on the side of a planter, her feet up, watching the two of them. “It’s a joyous reaffirmation of life, a worship of Iluvin Eturia’s very purpose, and an encouragement of others to follow the path, to seek to bring new life into this world.”

“Not fake like that,” Zir said. “Just… I don’t know these people. I don’t know the people that come to me to offer gifts and ask favors now that I’m duke. Dwarves I’ve never seen, deep elves that were my dad’s friends… all people telling me how wonderful I am, and accept this gift, and oh by the way can I have the rights to a particular trading arrangement. I mean, maybe all those people here were really good friends that would die for you… but I only know and trust you three. Everyone else could hate you and think you’re dragon dung for all you or I know, but they smile and clap now that you’re queen and pregnant, and give you gifts. Just like they would do for anyone else not a ruler, I’m sure. But what do they really think of you, right?”

That might be the longest speech I’ve ever heard from him, and it was just to announce he’s uncomfortable with people and doesn’t trust their motives.

Although his speech further tugged at her own fears—that she was not loved or respected, but that everyone pretended because they wanted to make Leo happy.

Molly sighed, rolled over, and sat up. “Zir, you’re being foolish. Not everyone can prove themselves by nearly dying for the cause, and of course people want advantage for themselves. But it’s still real that they want to celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, and Lily has done a great deal to win the respect of the people she is now ruling over. Having a party and them giving gifts is a celebration of her position and achievements.”

“Still seems fake to celebrate a position,” Zir muttered.

Lily stared at Molly. “Are they celebrating my accomplishments? Or just my position?”

“Both, I would think,” Molly said.

“What accomplishments, though? I mean, I saved Leo’s life once, I guess… but beyond being a healer for the adventuring party and sleeping with Leo, what else have I done.”

Zir spoke. “Well, you did create the cure to the red plague. That was real.”

Lily paused. “Yeah… but does saving Leo’s life and curing the red plague make me a good ruler?”

Zir answered again. “No. Doesn’t make you a bad one, though. That’s a whole different edge of the blade.”

“Speaking of,” Molly said, brightly, hands clasped in her lap. “How is it that you’re using an axe now?”

Zir caught his knife, sheathed it, and then pulled his axe around. Its handle glittered with Pink and Gold shards, the mark of an artifact of Soul and Metal magic. “Well, this weapon does vastly more damage than my knives did, and gives bonuses to dwarves as well. I mean, its biggest benefits are for those with Soul and Metal magics, of course, but it still does just… so much damage.”

“Interesting,” Molly said. “How’s that been affecting your fighting style?”

“I’ve been trying to adapt my fighting style of be axe and knife, and I’ve raised my Strength the last level I made… not sure how or when I’ll make more, but I’m hoping to raise it some more, so I can fight with two weapons again, one the axe.”

Lily cut in. “What brings you here, Zir?”

Zir put the axe back on his back, a decently arduous process, before turning back. “Well, there’s been a situation. You remember that past Cliff Pass and my realm is the Middle Lands, right?”

“I went to the Lakeside University, Zir,” Lily said dryly.

Zir flushed. “Right, sorry. Anyways, all those tribes, now that trading is really lucrative, have been fighting over land close to my border, to be able to engage in the trade more easily. Human tribes mostly, but there are a bunch of rabbit-kin warrens out there as well. One of them was getting its ass kicked pretty hard. Dead rabbit-kin everywhere, they were trying to pass their leg and arm fur off as normal rabbit pelts for trade…”

“The point, not the macabre details, please,” Molly said, shuddering.

Zir rolled his eyes. “You might be a wood elf on your chart, Molly, but you’re an uppy elf in your soul.”

“And here I was thinking of taking you to bed,” Molly said, smiling a wicked smile at Zir.

Zir coughed, his gray skinned face flushing so hard he managed to turn it red. “Um…”

“Nevermind, I’m having fun at your expense. Continue, please.”

Zir coughed a second time, but picked up the thread of his story. “to make it short, the warren asked us to protect them and swore to join us if we did. I don’t know the rules on expanding by accepting a count or something, and didn’t want to involve the kingdom in a war without talking to Leo—to someone higher up the ranks than me.”

Lily was torn—and she hadn’t even made it to one meeting yet. She knew in her heart that Leo would do it—he wanted to expand and grow but wouldn’t start a war. But stepping in to defend someone if he then got their allegiance—almost certainly. Even rabbit-kin.

So, she probably should do it, since he was the ruler… but if she was just doing what she thought Leo wanted, was she even ruling? She didn’t believe that risking a war with the various tribes over a rabbit-kin warren in marginal lands was worth it…

“What do I do?” Lily asked.

“You have to decide,” Molly said softly.

There was a brief pause.

Then Zir spoke again. “I don’t know, and I’m biased anyway. Please decide quick, however.”

He stood. “I’m going to go catch a meal at the Emerald Bee and then get a room. Been a while since I had magic honey.”

He started to walk from the room, then turned back. “You know, I can’t help you with the decision, or how to be a good ruler. But I can tell you how to find out what people think.”

“You can?” Lily asked.

“You’re an illusionist. Just make yourself look like a servant or something, and be around the people whose opinions you want to gauge. They’ll let it slip, pretty quickly I would imagine. Easy as mushroom pie.”

Molly turned to Lily. “This is a terrible idea.”

“I know,” Lily said, but inside, she was intrigued.