Nightwind tavern was silent for the first time that I could remember.

Even through the succession war, Sen had kept the place open. He’d worked tirelessly to bring even an ounce of joy to the people who had been falling into depression. The recruiters tried to take him a million times to fight for a prince just like all the other war-aged men, but in an act of defiance, he’d poisoned himself.

Sen’s affinities burned themselves out and left him permanently crippled. But the people loved him even more. He was the most hardy man I knew, so whatever had happened to emergency close down Nightwind for a day had to have been nothing short of a complete and utter disaster. Everyone else seemed to agree with me. Sen took breaks sometimes, but those were always advertised days in advance.

Jiuhen peeked through the dark window, complaining again how he’d left his coat inside last night. There wasn’t even much of a chill yet so I was clueless as to why he’d even had it.

I folded my arms and glanced at Hivren, who seemed the least angry about this out of everyone, all he wanted to talk about again was the Hero, and he could do that anywhere, really. Thankfully though, he seemed to have gotten over the idea of praising her name, I didn’t deserve it and I doubted I would ever deserve it.

“Did you guys hear that Foralen is visiting a bunch of the Nobles?”

Oh yeah, I hoped my clone didn’t make any important enemies tonight...I might want to go to those myself from now on just to be sure, I mean...Geneseri makes a flawless copy of a person so she probably couldn’t do any worse than me, but it still felt weird.

I shrugged in response to Hivren, “Nobles are annoying.”

Hivren raised an eyebrow, “In Aubinere, I’m a noble.”

“You’re just proving my point for me.”

Hivren sighed, “Well the hero is making important connections now. She was never a part of Noble society before the war but now that she’s back she’ll need allies.”

We moved off as a group to Alsen’s place, not as fun to be as Nightwind, but probably a whole lot safer than the shadier taverns, “I don’t give a crap about the hero.”

“Yes, I know,” Hivren paused and spoke quieter, “and I do agree that she’s a lot less…impressive, than I was envisioning.”

That struck me a lot deeper than his praises had. I raised an eyebrow at him, “In what ways?” Sparks yes, I was ready for this to be an ‘everyone bash on the Hero’ session.

Hivren sighed, “She’s inconsiderate, she doesn’t seem to know how to act in public, and she’s constantly making a fool of herself.”

I nodded slowly.

Jiuhen perked up, “I don’t like how she’s constantly using dimensionalism, as if she’s rubbing in our faces how much cooler than us she is.”

Hivren winced. What did it say about me that someone else cared more about me being criticized than I did? Givei wasn’t about to be left out though, “I don’t like her, She’s just offputting to me.”

They all seemed to be waiting for me to say something, the silence almost had a weight to it. “She’s spontaneous,” I started quietly. “She doesn’t seem to think things through, but her actions still affect the whole city. She’s selfish and seems to only do things for her own benefit.”

They kept going on and on. And on.

We opened the door to the Lazy Dryad but the criticism didn’t stop, Illila was there and she joined in. At first it felt like a weight was being lifted off my shoulders. It felt like finally I could see the things I was doing wrong.

But…

That feeling soon reversed itself as the torrent of things only increased, far beyond my or anyone else's control. I heard words against my actions, the way I looked, words against my answers to questions, speculation about what I was hiding, I heard everything.

It was almost worse than the criticisms my own mind came up with.

Almost.

Eventually it ended, two farmers walked in and started complaining loudly about something else. The torrent was redirected and I finally managed to relax.

“Woke up this morning to find my fields torn apart by a monster! You hear that? A monster. I talked with the wall guard about it but they didn’t even listen to a word I said! Do you believe that?”

His friend clapped him on the back and shook his head sadly, “Sparking right! Half of my hogs were slaughtered in their pen just ereyesterday!”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Wait, hogs? Hadn’t...hadn’t Turste caught a hog just a few days back? I focused on their conversation, nervously wondering how far the idiot would wander. His mind wasn’t quite right, I knew that already. Why was I so stupid as to take it for granted that he would stay put?

The first farmer shook his head sadly, “The monster slayers are off their game I tell you.”

“Last night I heard it. Managed to scare it away with a torch but I know it’ll be back!!”

I tilted my head at him in silent curiosity, trying to keep my voice calm and even, “Did you get a good look?”

The man shuddered, “By Gium, I sure did. The creature was darkness itself but the eyes…the eyes were like dead pits of white. Had me shaking in my boots. The strangest thing though, I found some dead sandfrost this morning. No idea how it got there, even a vengeful beast should know that stuff only likes sand.”

I gritted my teeth, it was Turste then. Definitely Turste.

They kept on chatting, eventually their topic made its way to the party the Queen was throwing. No one would shut up about that lately, and no one even knew when it would be. Queen Steris would be in Reiaran for five days and she wouldn’t send out invitations until she was there in person. Nevermind the fact that it could be the night she arrived, which would mean tomorrow.

My anxieties were focused on Turste at the moment, but the reminder about the party really didn’t help. I could probably put him in the Ayfel until Niun could figure out what to do with him...hmmm…

Illila elbowed me, “Eliax! When do you want to meet tomorrow to watch the queen arrive?”

I blinked at her, “When is she arriving?”

“Around midday. Last time there was a parade, it’s really short notice for anything like that now, but the rest of the Nobles should come back at the same time.” She sighed. “And the city was so peaceful...”

I tilted my head, “Why would it be less peaceful with the Nobles there?”

“Oh, they just bicker all the time and their soldiers are always causing trouble. They probably did the same thing in Sanaria.”

I thought about it for a bit, reflecting on Eliax’s memories. I went over Fari’s memories too about the various lords and ladies and decided that Illila was right. “Yeah, now that you mention it they did.”

“Just stay away from Sir Yanovel, I heard he sleeps with a different woman every night.”

Yeah...if that wasn’t the case then it was as close to being as possible. He also loved being the center of any and all gossip and had started some rumors about himself just for the fun of it. He’d been the King’s right hand man and I sorely regretted not having killed him too. I was just glad he was in the category of those pretending to be nobles instead of those actually nobles. I wasn’t exactly sure why Steris let him keep his knighthood though.

“I’ve heard a lot of bad things about him. Thanks for the worry but I don’t plan on going anywhere near him if I can help it.”

Illila nodded with a smile, “There are a few other nobles that aren’t much better, but he’s definitely the worst of the lot...Oh and there you have me distracted again! Eliax when are we meeting!”

“...I don’t know?”

Illila sighed and looked at the ceiling as if she was wondering why she’d expected anything more, “Alright, I’ll find you then when I’m ready. You’d better be ready when I come, you hear me?!”

I simply nodded, figuring that was the easiest option.

--

Foralen dei Imal was currently taking the hospitality of a certain lady Onix Senest. She was one of the most dull people the clone had ever met, which wasn’t saying a lot if you were counting only the people this clone had met.

It was still strange to think that she’d only existed for a day, whenever her mind drifted to that fact it came back with a mixture of relief and sorrow. Relief because it wasn’t her who had to deal with all the problems her original had cobbled together for herself. Sorrow because if she wasn’t real, she didn’t know what was real.

Certainly Lady Senest couldn’t be more real than she was. A lady who was more dull than a seldean’s mind but twice as beautiful as the flowers they could cultivate. An image of Jeref covered in flowers was amusing, but she managed not to laugh as Onix started talking again after an extended sip of her tea.

“Truly, it’s such a blessing that you and my father were friends back then, and that you...sought me out first out of all the allies you could have chosen.” She smiled in an overly pleasant way, “Tell me, Fari, where have you been all this time!”

Dull dull the dullest of dulls. “I was recovering.”

Onix nodded slowly, teacup to her mouth, barely the hint of a tilt to pour the contents down.

The clone took a polite sip of her own tea, but Onix just kept sipping. As if she didn’t know what to talk about. Was she misreading that? Perhaps she was but it felt a bit like Lady Onix didn’t want to be here any more than Fari did.

What a strange thought. There was no way to prove it, false or otherwise. Unless that is she wanted to break some decorum. It was only her first day going through the nobles though, perhaps she was simply out of practice from Lady Raia’s teachings.

--- HIVREN ---

Hivren had a bit of a one-track mind.

Every single time the Hero appeared, he was determined to be there. He was determined to figure out what her plan was, and he was determined to see it happen when she finally made her move. He’d known for quite a while that she had to be alive, and now he knew that she was going to change the world.

However, that conviction didn’t keep his heart from missing several beats as the messenger in front of him spoke.

“Young master, your mother sent me about two weeks ago. She said you need to come home.”

Hivren’s throat was dry as he opened his mouth, “and…why?”

“Your father is dying.”