Finally able to let her guard down fully, Len heaved a shuddering sigh. For some reason it was a very different experience nearly getting shot with an arrow than just coming close to having your head bludgeoned in by a troll or an undead Orc. This was closer to a fear she’d only known once in her other life: having a gun pulled on her. Nothing had come of it, but the knowledge that with the twitch of a finger, someone who wished it could’ve ended her life. Most of the time she was fine, didn’t dwell on it, was past it. Every once in a while, though, something would happen that would have her mentally right back in that alley, shaking in fear and powerless.

  She just sat there, breathing in and out, carefully counting backwards from ten, running through all the routines that she knew. It helped, but not as much as she wanted it to. She prayed no one would come in to see her like this and just waited. It took nearly ten minutes for her to steady herself.

  Eventually, as always happened with these strikes, the feeling passed. She was herself again. It was over. She hated the helplessness that she felt whenever something triggered her into reliving the experience. It wasn’t even like anything had happened to her. She’d been unharmed, the gunman had run off without even touching her. And yet every damn time, no matter how often she was told that these feelings were perfectly natural, that there was nothing wrong with her. Every fucking time felt like she was broken.

  It took maybe another twenty minutes before she was really over it. The time was spent bouncing between berating herself, feeling guilty for berating herself, and ultimately wondering what the fuck was the point of the arrow.

  The thing of it was… it was almost too clean. If she was setting someone up, she couldn’t have done much better herself. Set up a shooter that can’t be seen, come close to killing the target, but don’t actually do it. Leave clear evidence of who you wanted to catch the blame, and disappear before the victim gets a good look at you. Then again, it wasn’t outside the bounds of possibility that one of her hunters WAS trying to kill her, though she kind of assumed they’d have taken another shot if that were the case. It was frustrating.

  Sighing, she slipped the arrow into her desk. She’d have to keep an eye out, but it wouldn’t be wise to rush to any judgment just yet. As she moved to close the drawer, she caught sight of the letter from Astrid. Any other time, she’d have probably just ignored it, left it be unless something truly dire came up. Any other time, she’d have probably just called Kila in to talk things out and laugh, cry, and generally just process. Today, though?

  She cracked the seal that had once again reformed itself. Runes skittered across paper and receded into the envelope. Inside there wasn’t any actual text displayed. Gingerly, Len picked up a pen and scrawled out a question.

You there?

  It took several minutes for the Demon Lord to respond. Len was actually beginning to regret sending the message and was starting to put the paper away when new text appeared.

Yup, what’s up?

  What was she even doing? Ignoring the fact that she didn’t like this woman particularly much and that there were better options for idle chat than the Lord of all freaking Demons, what was she even trying to say here? What could she even say, anyway? What the hell was she even trying to do here?

I… err. What are you up to?

  Another pause, then a hastily written response.

Oh, nothing much, just running an empire and all that. Wait… is the high and mighty Lenore Wraithwhisper writing to me just to chat? I must mark it in my calendar!

  Len scowled.

Could you just not? It’s been a day.

Something happen?

Well, someone tried to kill me, for one.

They did? Are you okay?

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  The questions were short to the point of being curt, but Len appreciated that the snark had been dropped.

I’m fine. It was a close call, brought up some stuff I thought I was over. And it raises some questions that I don’t have the answers to. I got shot at with an arrow from one of my hunters, but I didn’t actually see who fired it. It’s suspicious, and I don’t know for certain what it means, and… I dunno. Don’t even know why I’m writing you about this. I’m sure you’ve got better things to be doing with your time.

Nah, it’s fine. I’m really not up to anything at the moment. The whole point of having a line of communication open is to use it. Are you really okay?

Not really. It’s not fun having an arrow narrowly miss you. I’ve literally just been hiding out in my tent since getting back. Don’t want to deal with anyone.

So instead of dealing with anyone… you decided to talk to me?

Hey, don’t ask me. The letter was there and I started writing before I even thought about it.

That’s kind of cute.

Shove it. Can we just forget this whole thing happened? I’ve got enough on my plate without dying of embarrassment on top of it all.

No, I don’t think I’ll be forgetting this, Lenore. You’re kind of fun when you’re not being bitchy.

So glad that my reliving past trauma is amusing to you.

That’s not what I meant. For crying out loud, can you be calm for like five minutes? What I’m trying to say is that it’s nice talking to you without the rest of the nonsense. No one talks to me like you do.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Look, you’ve seen the way my people react to me. Either they’re the fawning drones that would giddily die for me, or they’re scheming assholes just looking to make use of me. I don’t really know how the Demon Lord’s power thing works, but when someone’s strong enough to ignore it, they tend to be strong enough to be high ranking in the Army. Believe it or not, you’re the only person I’ve met immune to my aura and NOT trying to manipulate me.

… Are you trying to ask me to be your friend, Astrid?

  A smirk was playing across Len’s face. The Demon Lord sounded almost vulnerable in her message there.

I guess I am. You’re interesting. Fun, in a rather backhanded way. It’d be nice to have someone I could trust for reasons other than blind devotion. So, for now, why don’t we keep things simple enough. If you have problems, bring them to me. I can’t do much that’s obvious right now, there really are some serious threats doing their best to take you out, so we need to keep you where you are, but I can listen and offer advice. I’m actually pretty good at this leadership stuff.

Are you really, though? Seems to me that most of your leadership has more to do with the fact that they blindly obey you than any great tactical knowledge.

Hey! I’ll have you know that I’ve won a ton of battles with minimal casualties. Look, that’s not the point. Will you stop giving me a hard time for a bit? I’m trying to be honest here.

Fine, you’re right. Sorry. It’s a force of habit as much as anything else. Genuine emotion isn’t something I’m good at. Friends?

Friends. Now then, about that arrow. Start at the beginning.

  Len explained the full situation to her, starting with the initial trade she’d opened up with the humans, explaining the greenhouse production and the apparent sabotage, Valkar’s suspicions, the walk that had preceded the assassination attempt, all of it. It felt good to be able to report all the specific progress she’d made. Technically this was a matter of reporting to her boss, but it was a good moment of bragging too.

Well, I’ll say this much for you. You’ve been busy. I’d never heard of using a full house made of glass. Mostly I just know about the smaller frames that are used to keep tiny plots protected. Huh, that could be interesting to see near the palace, might have to try that.

Focus, Astrid.

Right, right. Well, you say your hunters are still out. It could be that they’ve just lost one of their arrows, or it could be they were captured and are being used as a distraction. I’d have to bet that they weren’t involved in any of the sabotage at the Hovel. And, frankly, if trained stalkers had wanted you dead, they wouldn’t have missed. Something else is going on there. I’m not sure what to think about your making human friends, but I definitely wouldn’t trust them if this is all happening so soon after opening up relations. Also, don’t forget that you need to get them in line one way or another.

I’m working on it. It’d be nice if you could send us some supplies to bolster the fort up a bit. Maybe give us something better to trade? Boost our status a bit?

Wish I could, but anything I send to you would be hijacked before it got to ya. Sorry Lenore, but you’re on your own for the foreseeable future. I might be able to find a way to ship some more undesirables your way if you think you can make use of ‘em, but I wouldn’t expect much.

Nah, for now I don’t want to throw any more problems into the mix. I’ll make do.