Hadrian shook hands with the petite girl. His meaty palm almost completely engulfed hers. When he stood up, the difference in size was even more jarring. He hunched over as he stood, not standing to his full height, yet still towering over the girl.

She wasn't fazed by the difference. She seemed to take it as a challenge, which she rose to by stiffening her posture and putting more energy into the shake.

"It was great to meet you, but I'm exhausted," Hadrian said after the intense handshake. "I think I'll go get some rest back in the compartment."

"You're tired?" I asked. "It's still morning."

Hadrian was already shuffling around Firin's back. When I asked the question, I could see him overtly rolling his eyes and shaking his head. I squinted in confusion at the movement.

"Yeah, well, I didn't sleep too good last night, so now that I have a full stomach, I'm going to try and catch up on my rest." Hadrian made it around to the other side of Firin and then turned to her again. "I hope you have a nice morning Miss Frin," he said with a nod.

"Firin, not Frin," she said with a polite smile.

"What's the difference?" Hadrian said gruffly. He didn't ask in an offensive manner. He sounded more confused. I could actually tell the difference between the two. It was a difference between rolling the first I and the R together. As soon as she said her name, it made me think of my mother's name and how it is pronounced similarly.

Firin explained the same exact thing to Hadrian, and he attempted to get it right. It took him a few tries, but he eventually got it.

"Sorry," Firin said abashedly. "It's just that people mess it up so often, I can't not correct them anymore."

"It's okay, I don't mind," Hadrian said. "Hopefully, we can talk some more later."

"That would be great. Besides, I have to go eat as well. Maybe we can meet up for dinner?" she asked. I was starting to get worried that I was getting ignored, but when she asked the question with a raised eyebrow, she included me with the look.

I struggled to talk, but I managed to get some words out before it became awkward. "De-definitely. That would be great." I think the girl had a scrambling effect on my brain. First, it was walking when I saw her, then I had trouble speaking properly.

Firin waved subtly as she turned and returned to her brother's seat. Hadrian was already halfway to the train car's door before I could scoot out of the seat. The sound of rushing air filled the cabin as he momentarily opened the door between cars. He stepped through the door, and I rushed to catch up, reaching it just before it fully closed.

The space between the passenger cars and the dining car was covered with a thick course material that was dyed black. The enclosed gangway didn't do anything to dampen the sound of the train moving or the wind rushing by but coupled with the planked walkway, it created a sense of safety while transferring between the cars.

"Boy, did you blow it," Hadrian said after I sat opposite him. "I can tell that you're going to need a lot of help if you want any chance with her."

"I don't think I did that bad."

"You, what?" Hadrian guffawed. "I gave you a perfect assist, and you stabbed yourself in the foot."

"If you're such a ladies' man, what should I have done?" I crossed my arms and leaned back to wait for his response. His ribbing of my difficulty was annoying.

"For starters, I wouldn't have called me out when I said I was tired. I was trying to give you some alone time with her."

"That was weird, though."

"It wasn't weird," he replied, waving my comment away. "At least until you said something."

"So, what makes you such an expert?"

A bark of laughter erupted from Hadrian. "I never said I was an expert. But I know a thing or two. I'm not a fresh-faced sixteen-year-old, and there were more than a few girls where I'm from."

"Where's that?"

"Oh? Are you tryin' to change the subject? We're talking about your problem with girls, not my many achievements." Hadrian leaned back with his arms behind his head. "But if you must know. I'm from the great mining town of Bowtree. It's in the Serra Mountains." He added the second part when I didn't recognize the name of his town. When I didn't recognize the name of the mountains, he added, "Orbs, kid! Didn't you go to school?"

I stared hard into his eyes without blinking.

"Okay, I get it," he said after a moment. "You don't have to look at me like that." When I looked away, he continued. "The Serra mountains are north of the capital. It takes another day by train to get close to my town. Then another week of travel to get there. It may be out of the way, but it's still a fairly prosperous town with a population that's still growing. It's not the friendliest place to live, and it isn't great for kids, but it is exciting. I've also been to quite a few other places in my day. So, don't mistake my jovial personality with being naïve and unworldly."

I nodded while I stared out the window. We were off the long bridge and passing by a stretch with massive walls protecting the tracks, so there wasn't much to see. Just the occasional flash of a line separating the enormous slabs of concrete. I thought it was all stone when I first arrived in the city, but after working for a few days, I discovered its name and how it was made.

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"At least I'll have another chance to talk to her later," I said after a while.

"Of course you will, but we won't leave it up to chance."

Hadrian and I discussed what I should say and talk about, and we devised a plan on how he would slip away so I could speak to Firin alone. I went along with all his conjectures on what might happen, but deep down, I didn't worry too much about it. Sure, I wanted to speak with her and doing it alone would be great. However, I still had my mission and wouldn't jeopardize its success for anything.

Later that evening, we got up to go to dinner. Since Firin's compartment was right across from ours, we knocked on the door to see if she wanted to join us. It wouldn't be right not to invite her brother, but Hadrian said he had a plan to get him away if he decided to join us.

Each compartment had curtains to supply a modicum of privacy, so we didn't know if anyone was in the room. However, a quick moment after we knocked, the curtain was pushed aside. Firin's beaming face, framed with silver hair, appeared through the window.

"We're going to dinner if you and your brother would like to come," I said. Hadrian said it would be better if I was the one to ask as it put the ownership of the invitation on me.

"Of course, I'm starving," she replied. "My brother isn't here, though. He won't mind either way. Do you want to wait for him?"

I knew agreeing would be a mistake, but I struggled for a moment with what to say. Hadrian just grunted and turned to walk down the hallway.

"If he won't mind, I would like to go now," I managed to supply.

"Okay." Firin stepped out of the compartment and closed the door. When she turned to walk down the hallway, I noticed she was precariously close to me. Her head was a good foot below mine as she looked up and smiled. "Are we going to go, or is the food coming here?" she teased.

"Oh. Sorry. Yeah," I fumbled, then turned stiffly and walked down the hallway after Hadrian. I felt I was going too fast, so I purposely slowed down.

When we arrived at the dining car, Hadrian was already sitting in a booth halfway down the car with his back toward us. He sat directly in the middle of the bench seat, leaving no room for anyone else on his side. That was something he didn't mention beforehand.

I glared furiously at him as I slid into the booth on the other side and shifted to the edge by the window. Hadrian stared back with a broad smile that reminded me of when I saw him in the hallways of the arena. Either Firin didn't notice our exchange, or she didn't care. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind the seating arrangements. She only sat down smoothly on my side and got comfortable.

Shortly after we were seated, the server arrived at our table, and we gave her our orders. With the help of Hadrian, the conversation flowed smoothly. It consisted of easy topics that mostly stuck to the martial tournament. Topics like what it was like to be up on stage to how the Artificial Reality systems worked. In the latter subject, I was glad that I wasn't the only one ignorant of how they functioned. Although, it created another item I had to search about when given the time. After all, I was the only one to be able to easily search for an answer.

We all finished our dinner, and I was considering ordering a dessert. Sweets were still a novelty to me from all my time living in a cabin.

"Ooh, dessert sounds great!" Firin said to my delight.

"Uh, oh. My stomach," Hadrian abruptly grabbed the offending area. "Excuse me." He got out of the seat and headed out of the car without another word.

Firin turned toward me and leaned on the table with her head in her hand. "That looks serious."

"Yeah, I hope he's going to be okay," I replied, keeping my eyes straight ahead. Every time I looked into Firin's eyes, it was hard to think, and sitting so close to her didn't help either.

"I guess it's just you and me for dessert."

I thought she was on to our plot, so I tried to see if she wanted to end dinner.

"If you want-"

"No, no," she interrupted. "It's fine, I don't mind."

To my relief, the server arrived, and we both ordered our dessert. There were only two items on the menu: Tiramisu and a Molten Chocolate cake. I didn't know what either was, but I could at least guess with the second one. I ordered the cake, and she ordered the other item.

"So, I noticed that you don't have a robot," I asked after a moment of silence. "Are you too young? And if so, where are you planning on going to get one?"

"No, I turned seventeen a few months ago." I choked a little at her statement. That made her older than me. Since she was so petite, I assumed she was younger. "I'm ambivalent about it, and my dad doesn't want, or really, didn't want me to get one."

"Didn't?"

"Yes," she said wistfully. "He died not too long ago. That's why I'm traveling around with my brother. After my father died, he left the military to care for me, not that I needed it. He has always been protective, even though he's my half-brother."

"Why didn't your father want you to get a robot?"

"After my brother got his, he was almost instantly taken away to train for the military to fight on the front lines.

"What front lines?"

"Whatever war they happen to be fighting at the time." Firin shrugged noncommittally. "I don't really track them. I think our kingdom is fighting against the Newtonian Democracy right now." I made yet another note of something to look up later.

I knew there were a few different countries on our continent, but our kingdom was so large that I never even considered going outside it. When I imagined getting a robot and becoming a fighter or technician, I always thought about being stationed in a remote outpost and helping to clear out monsters. I realized that those were very naive thoughts.

"Anyway," she continued while waving her hand in a circle. "After that, dad blamed the acquisition of his robot for his departure. He was highly against them after that. But, even worse for us, he was against the war. That was especially bad since he ran the duchy.

"Wow! So, you're what? A princess?"

"Hardly," she replied with a laugh. "Definitely not now. The duchy is run by my cousin now. My brother and I have a little bit of funds, but we're mostly getting by on his fighting prowess in tournaments."

Just then, the door to the train car opened. While talking to Firin, I found myself relaxing and leaning into the conversation. I stiffened and sat up straight when I saw who had walked through. Arthur strode purposefully forward. His scowl deepened as daggers appeared in his eyes. They had blood on the tips and were pointed at my heart. I braced for a confrontation, but he walked by without saying a word and sat at the same table he had in the morning.

"Speak of the devil," Firin chuckled.

"Perhaps I should go?" I ventured.

"Don't worry about him," she waved me off. "He's way too overprotective. Besides, he's all talk.

I laughed. "He's definitely not all talk. I should know."

"I guess you would," she agreed. "He did beat you pretty thoroughly."

"I'd like to refute your accusation, but I can't. I was trounced quite completely. I have a lot of training to do in a short amount of time to get better."

"Good luck. He's been training for over ten years and was highly regarded in the military. I don't think the three weeks you have until the start of the next tournament will be enough.

"So, I have just one question to ask," she expertly changed the subject while leaning a little closer to me. I noticed a mischievous glint in her eye, but only too late.

"What's that?"

"After your preliminary matches in the arena, did you run into the other person because of me?