He was nervous although he hid it very well in the perfect veneer of professionalism. When he saw her, Vai immediately bowed.

“I was told you wanted to see me.”

Echa stood and took a deep breath. Slowly and carefully, she walked closer to Vai, stopping when he tensed. “You don’t need to bow to me. You’re a zhurl, I’m only an ex-prostitute.”

His eyes widened with surprise and he barely managed to avoid bowing again. “I...it’s been a while since someone has understood what that means.”

She nodded in acknowledgment and watched him as he hesitantly put the pieces together.

“You...are Lady Echa then?”

“Just Echa. I’m not a Lady, remember.”

She gave a somewhat mocking curtsy and then a friendly smile, waving him to the tree Fenrin had started clearing of branches. “Deign to sit with me, honorable zhurl?”

Somewhere in the swirling of hesitation and calculation on his face, Echa thought she spotted a hint of amusement and he did sit next to her.

His words seemed caught in his throat, fighting against each other, so she just waited and watched. He was beautiful and no doubt had great success in his line of work. It was no wonder he was proud…and strange that he’d been let go.

“Have you been to Aryus?” he asked in a choked whisper.

“I have not, but I was mostly used on a dock so heard about it often. Do you miss it? I imagine Valhym was quite the change.”

Vai opened his mouth but then shut it firmly, his eyes flicking from her and back into the trees. The small bit of familiarity she’d managed to pull out crumbled. He was scared of her.

“I want to apologize for whatever my husband did to you. He was worried and has much to protect. He and the rest of our friends are plenty capable of protecting this valley, but I’m not here for that. I’m here to protect you.”

He stiffened even more and Echa resisted the urge to grit her teeth. “You’re a very proud man, Vai. Whether you are deserving of that pride isn’t up for me to decide, but if you don’t come to terms with your choices, you won’t be able to live with yourself.”

“I am a zhurl,” he said simply, like it was a shield.

“No, you’re not,” Echa gently reached up and, knowing he would suppress any flinching, turned his face towards her, “you stopped being a zhurl the moment you left Aryus. So tell me, what are you now?”

His lips pressed together and she let go when she started to feel his trembling. She didn’t come here to embarrass him. She came here to make his face his own humanity.

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Echa spoke again, determined to help him break his silence. “Most people would say we are the same, but that’s not true. Our differences are deeper than our stations in life or the choice I made to kill my master and flee with the daughter I never should have had. What makes you stay here, Vai?”

He didn’t answer, still terrified. Echa stood up, grabbed his hands and wrenched him to his feet.

“Why are you here? There’s no one here…just you but me, and I am beneath your notice. I’m no one to you.”

He set his jaw. “You are not no one. You are the acquaintance of Master Fenrin.”

“And who are you then?”

“I belong to the Queen of Valhym.”

She gave his hands an encouraging squeeze as something lit up in his eyes. “Why?”

The words left his lips like a prayer. “Because there is nowhere I can go where she could not find me.”

Most would think that answer was an admission of defeat, but Echa saw it was, in fact, a victory. Echa pushed.

“Why would she come find you?”

He recoiled and tried to pull his hands from Echa’s, but she held on with an iron grip.

“B-because I am hers.”

“Why?”

“She purchased me.”

“That’s not why,” Echa said with certainty as cold and hard as steel. Everyone knew why Vai was who he was. Unless he stopped hiding behind the old laws and rules of his zhurl past, Vai would not be able to accept his life as it was, so far removed from those restrictions.

“Why are you Lyra’s?” Echa asked again and Vai’s answer burst from his lungs like a sob.

“Because she wanted me!”

Echa gently looked down at Vai’s hands, giving him the privacy to show his emotion and asked, “Why don’t you leave her?”

“I don’t want to.”

He sucked in his breath as if that could take his words back and Echa shook to finally see the man she’d known was there.

“Say it again.”

Once more he tried to pull his hands free and Echa looked back up at his horrified face, her eyes hard as stone. There was a line she needed him to cross. A conclusion he needed to reach.

“I...I…” He shuddered and closed his eyes. “I don’t ever want to stop serving my queen.”

Echa let go of his hands and they fell limply at his side. When her finger, she jabbed him in the chest and his eyes flew open.

“You made a choice a long time ago, Vai. You’re a person with wants and wishes the same as everyone else. Consider what you want and don’t want. Face that and you’ll find a way to keep going.”

She took a step back. “Now, why are you here?”

“Because my mistress asked me to be.”

“And?”

“And I want to follow her wishes.” This time the words didn’t stick in Vai’s throat.

Echa nodded.

It still made her sick to her stomach, but there was a recognition in his eyes that satisfied her.

“There are plenty of people in this valley with pasts they don’t want to or can’t talk about. But everyone accepts each other as people who made choices, whether they agree or not. Understand that and you’ll find a way to live here regardless of how torn your heart is.”

The dark veil of her hair obscuring her face as she turned away,. “I hate the choice you’ve made. I hate the person you’ve devoted your life to. But until I was sure you saw yourself as much of a person as I am, I couldn’t hate you.”

She reached up and tucked the curtain behind her ear.

“We are the same and we are different. I came to help you because I understood what had to be done, but don’t get me wrong,” once more her dark eyes met his gold ones, “I don’t trust you or like you, and if you ever threaten anyone in this valley, I will kill you.”

With some satisfaction she watched Vai’s eyes harden before, pulling her cloak around her, Echa left.