When Alexei first arrived, he was a smiling, sunglasses-wearing eccentric wearing period clothing. But in Tyvan’s apartment, he was just... a weird, long-haired, old guy suffering a severe allergic reaction.

Shay wasn’t even mad at him anymore. He was just too pitiful.

“Lord Valorum,” Alexei said, “The menu, this evening... seems... focused, per se.”

Right. Shay recognized that and had exactly one idea to help. As she set out the dishes, she arranged them so the one non-garlic dish was closest to him.

Romanian-style beef soup! That was probably the only thing he’d be able to eat.

But... just as she set the soup bowl down, multiple cloves of garlic floated to the surface-- whole garlic cloves.

Alexei looked up at her, absolutely shocked. Did he think she was betraying him???! But she didn’t mean it like that! She wasn’t his enemy!! She gave him medicine! (Even though it was expired!)

Shay looked away, unable to explain herself-- and unable to handle the guilt.

Sorry, Alexei.

The sound of the oven opening made her look up and over to the kitchen. And a new smell flooded her senses-- overwhelmingly garlicky plus... something else.

“It’s rosemary,” Tyvan said, unprompted.

“Mmm... Rosemary,” Shay said. “That’s an herb!”

“...Correct.”

It was a little rude for her to be so excited, but... it was Tyvan! And he was doing something he loved! She couldn’t help herself!

The roast potatoes were done, looking and smelling better than Shay could have imagined. Tyvan even raked the outside of one to show off how crispy they were.

Alexei’s face had twisted from agonized to horrified to full-on despair. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he started to cry.

After Tyvan transferred the potatoes to the final serving tray, he turned to the table with his usual, neutral expression.

“So you’ve an issue with the menu, dear guest? Have I not made enough?”

Wait, what? Tyvan had made enough food to feed a party of eight! Err-- eight regular people. He could probably finish everything on his own if he decided not to hold back.

But that wasn’t the problem! The problem was that Alexei was a vampire. Vampires didn’t do well with garlic!

Did Tyvan not know?

No-- with the amount he used, he definitely knew!

From the conversation Shay heard earlier, it wasn’t the first time they met. And even though Tyvan usually hid his emotions, it was easy to tell he wasn’t particularly thrilled to see Alexei. But him cooking everything with basically vampire poison seemed kinda excessive!!

Was it... because Alexei played a joke on her earlier? That gave her happy thoughts-- but also more guilt!

“Master Valorum,” Alexei said nervously. “I... have an old tongue--”

“And I would not dare to offend a personage of thy status by serving a meal bare of spices,” Tyvan countered.

Alexei gulped before continuing.

“Age has not been kind to my stomach, sir. And I fear my words may cause offense when I say this, but--”

“Words, when spoken,” Tyvan interrupted, “are akin to swords drawn.”

Ooooh... The air got thick with an invisible pressure. But Alexei backed down, shutting his mouth, and seeming to shrink back into his chair.

Shay apologized to him, in her heart-- as loud as her inner voice could shout.

But her body betrayed her and her tummy rumbled. So, she too, sank back in her chair, hoping neither of the two heard her.

The table was set. The dishes were plated. The beef ribs had scallions sitting on the side and an artful half-circle of sauce drizzled on the plate. The green beans and potatoes had their own little, single-serving bowls. And the bread sat in a literal bread basket! (Scone basket?)

Everything looked like it belonged on the menu of an upscale restaurant-- not that Shay had been to any of those outside of the Royal Sun Palace. Her and Tyvan’s occasional outings were usually to late-night diners and food trucks.

But that was fine! She didn’t care where they went as long as they were together!

Shay was excited to start eating. Tyvan was always excited when it came to food. (Alexei was miserable, but that couldn’t be helped.)

“Tyvan, are we waiting for anyone?” she asked.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Ivalice has five minutes.”

Oh. So... Ivy was coming.

Ehhh... that was disappointing, but not too surprising. Since Ivy wasn’t there yet, Shay took the opportunity to switch seats so she was next to Tyvan. He gave her a nod-- that meant it was okay.

But then Ivy actually arrived.

She appeared at the end of the hallway... looking... Absolutely. Stunning.

She wore a multi-layered white and gold dress, the edges rippling and flowing like water. Then, her top had an armor-looking design? She looked like a badass warrior princess-- but the way she put her hair up made her look like a princess at a ball-- and her strut toward the dinner table made her look like a runway model!!

Both Tyvan and Alexei had stood up. Oh! Shay hurried to stand, too. Yep. Standing felt like the right thing to do.

“Lady Voss,” Alexei said.

“Alexei.”

Ivy offered her hand. They had a little dainty handshake. Alexei looked over to Tyvan, but he shook his head. Whatever that signified, the two boys sat back down-- with Shay, again, sitting down a few seconds late.

She blinked her eyes. Why did Ivy come from the hallway? Didn’t that mean she'd been in Tyvan’s apartment since earlier?

...Maybe she helped Tyvan with the menu. There was a lot of food.

Wait-- Ivy’s last name was Voss?

Shay let out a yelp of recognition.

“Y-you’re Evelyn Voss!!!”

Evelyn Voss was the designer from Milan who made the Eorzea brand! Nuri talked about her! All her super-expensive clothes were available at Perseus!!

Oh-- and that one time Shay had to borrow clothes and she and Raia went to someone else’s apartment and they had ALL the clothes and there were mannequins and fabric scraps on the floor and designs pinned on the walls. That apartment must have been Evelyn’s!!! That made SO much sense!

“My name is Ivalice Voss, Miss Yan,” Ivy corrected.

Shay shut her eyes. She knew that-- she should have known that. Tyvan literally said her name not even five minutes ago.

“I... I like your clothes,” she said. “I bought some of your outfits last week. Um-- at Perseus? The store? I mean, I bought Eorzea brand clothing. The clothing you wear, err... make. And then-- before. I wore them, then. Borrowed.”

Ivy stared back at her, her gaze sharper than usual.

Shay readied herself to hear something sarcastic or biting, but...

“My outfits look best on girls with our build,” was all she said.

Oh.

Oh...?

yesSSss. Shay celebrated internally. Positive interaction achieved! From Ivy’s tone, she might not have been 100% approving. But maybe she was just reading too far into it?

Whatever!

Shay took it as a compliment.

They ate the food. It was fantastic. Ffffffantastic. It was the best part of her night. Tyvan even accidentally brushed his elbow against hers. Or maybe he did it on purpose! OoOoh. Scandalous. She spent way too long considering doing it back just to see if he’d also do it back.

As expected, Alexei barely touched his food. He politely ate very, very tiny bites at the edges of a few things.

Shay half-expected Tyvan to say something, buuuut since he had delicious food in front of him, he couldn’t be bothered.

After basically half the meal of staring at Tyvan, she became aware of a few other details.

Alexei was sitting at the other end of the table, all alone.

And... Ivy was on Tyvan’s opposite side. She chose that seat, on purpose.

Did that mean anything? Was she competing with Ivy for Tyvan’s affection? (Or maybe Ivy didn’t like Alexei either.)

The silence grew... extra awkward. Shay knew it was probably just in her mind-- but she still felt like she had to break it.

“So... our table is round. That’s pretty cool.”

Tyvan glanced down for a second. “The shape of our table, you’re implying it holds... a special significance?”

“You mean, like-- the feng shui?” Ivy offered.

Yes! Shay nodded excitedly. That was also true!

Alexei forced a smile, the tips of his fangs pressing into his bottom lip. “There is a round table of import in a certain popular myth.”

“Ah, so like the tables at Chinese restaurants,” Tyvan said. “On that note, I do fancy the rotating centerpiece.”

“N-nevermind,” Shay sighed.

At least Alexei knew what she was talking about. That made her feel a little better.

“One moment,” Tyvan said as he stood up.

He walked over to the far side of the room, where the couches and TV were. There was a small box on the mantle in the shape of a pirate’s treasure chest. His back blocked her view, but he’d probably opened it.

“⌈Doma⌋,” he said, “do we have enough glass and metal in our stores to modify our dining table?”

Shay tilted her head. What was that about? Wasn’t ⌈Doma⌋ just an incantation to talk to his door?

“Fascinating,” Alexei said. “The creativity of contemporary magicians never cease to amaze me.”

He reached forward.

The table-- it had... sprouted a glass, revolving centerpiece, exactly like the ones at the Royal Sun Palace.

Alexei spun it casually, chuckling lightly with an honest smile. (He still looked like a sick person, though-- so like a cancer patient finding some small joy.)

“Modern technomancy is nigh unfathomable,” Tyvan said as he sat back down. “I still only have a vague understanding of just how an automobile engine ignites and powers the locomotion.”

“They work via horsepower,” Alexei said confidently.

Ivy looked over to her with a ‘can you believe these dummies?’ face.

Shay furrowed her brows as she thought about the science. She might have been able to explain-- at least a little bit better than ‘theoretical horses make a car go vroom.’

But before she could gather her dozens of thoughts into anything vaguely coherent, Ivy made a move-- and thankfully, it wasn’t toward Tyvan.

She extended her arm forward and snapped her fingers, magically producing a small wooden box that she placed down on the glass. Then, with a casual wave of her hand, the centerpiece started to spin. It went around the table twice, then unnaturally slowed to a stop... right in front of Alexei’s plate.