Dani and her friends chatted and drank well into the night. It was a welcome slice of normalcy in what had quickly become a crazy life, and Dani wouldn’t trade it for the world.

She would, however, gladly trade the resulting hangover.

The light pierced her eyes and made her stomach turn as she walked with Reshi to Mrs. Haversauns. Her stomach was empty, but she still felt like she wanted to throw up. Why had she drunken so much of that rot gut last night? For that matter, where had her tolerance for drink gone?

“Here.” Reshi shoved a steaming mug of something into her hands, and she blinked out of her daze.

“What’s this?” She asked, sniffing at the liquid. It smelled like chocolate and something else she couldn’t quite place. Cautious, she took a sip, the hot liquid burning its way across her tongue and down her throat. It landed in her stomach, immediately starting to settle the nausea that had been bothering her since last night.

“The vendor called it Coffee. It ain’t bad, an’ looks like ya need it. Out too late partyin’.” Reshi’s voice was disapproving, but she thought she saw the faintest smile cross his face. He had had his fair share of late nights and miserable mornings too.

“Coffee? It tastes a bit like chocolate.” She took another drink, and let out a soft sigh as aching muscles started to loosen.

“Said it had chocolate in it.” Reshi started to walk again, holding his own steaming mug.

They walked in silence down Trade Road, both sipping at their coffee as the market started to wake up for the day. Dani looked up at the long shadows cast by Widow’s cliff, fighting the rising sun for supremacy over Rats Nest. Birds and Sky Scraw flew overhead or scurried by on rooftops, and down one street children played with an old leather ball. Remnants of old towers and mansions jutted up out of the rubble of Rats Nest. A few odd dwellings still remained on the cliff face, carved out of the very stone that had come tumbling down years ago to bury Rats Nest. They had long since been taken over by the poor. But they were no less beautiful, laundry swaying in the gentle breeze adding color to the stone city, and tiny gardens grew in what had once been a disaster area.

“I don’t think I ever realized how beautiful Rats Nest is.” Dani said.

Reshi snorted, looking over the city with a critical eye. “I s’pose.” His gaze lingered on a pile of trash stacked up in the alley way they passed. He raised an eyebrow and looked back at Dani. “If ya look really hard.”

“I don’t think you have to look that hard.” Dani shrugged and took another drink of the coffee. It probably wouldn’t do any good talking to him about it, Reshi was a practical man. But something in her still wanted him to understand. “You just gotta look at what people have built out of the rubble. It could have just been left to rot, but we didn’t let it. People like you and Raycor built homes and shops in it.”

“Ya still drunk? We did what we had ta do. Weren’t nowhere else ta go. An’ now there’s talk ‘bout it getting dug up by the mages.” Reshi nodded towards a group of mages that were walking towards Rats Nest, talking amongst themselves and gesturing at a map.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“They’re going to dig up some of it I think. But I’m not going to let them just dig up peoples homes and shops.” Dani said. She remembered the talk last night, most of it anyways. They had been working on plans for Rats Nest, where the mages could dig, where buildings just needed to be repaired or reinforced. The others had had more ideas than she had. She hadn’t known what to do, what to ask the nobles for as they worked on Rats Nest and the tunnels.

“Ya won’t let ‘em?” Reshi laughed and slapped her back. “An’ who are ya ta not let ‘em?”

Oh right, she hadn’t told him about the meeting at the palace yesterday. Shit.

She looked around, the nausea returning as she thought of telling him. Reshi would probably think it’s stupid. He’d probably be upset about it somehow. But it wasn’t like he wouldn’t find out eventually. She was going to be talking with a lot of high ranked people soon. They were going to be crawling all over Rats Nest, digging and rebuilding and gods only knew what else. She took a drink of the coffee, the hot liquid settling like lead in her stomach as she tried to think of the best way to tell Reshi about the situation.

“Uhm....”

“Ya ain’t got much ta say ta that, do ya?” Reshi smirked and shook his head. “Ain’t nothin’ we can do ‘bout what the nobles want.”

“Actually, I’m- I....” Her hand started to shake, and she downed the last of her coffee like it was hard liqour. It seared its way down her throat to join the rest, roiling in her stomach. Gods that had been a mistake.

“Yer what? Is this ‘bout that damn bracelet?”

“No, nothing like that. I- I was summoned to the palace yesterday.” Why was this so damn hard?

“What?” Reshi stopped in his tracks, his face suddenly hard and serious. “What’d they want? Ya a’ight?”

“They- they wanted to- they gave me a title. I’m- well I’m a legit Lady now. Of Rats Nest. Lady Rats Nest.” She clutched the empty mug, staring down into its dark depths.

The silence drew out so long that she wasn’t sure if Reshi was going to say anything at all. Maybe he hadn’t quite heard, or maybe he thought it was a joke. She glanced up at him, and took an involuntary step back.

He didn’t look mad. He was pale as a ghost, his eyes pinned on her. When he finally spoke his voice was soft and serious. “Ya ain’t jokin’. Are ya?”

“N-no. Why would I joke about that? Are you alright?”

“We’re leavin’.” Reshi started to stride back towards the house, grabbing Dani by the arm and pulling her along.

“Leaving? Leaving where?” Dani yelped as she stumbled after him, nearly dropping the mug in her haste to keep up.

“The city. It ain’t safe no more.” Reshi said. His gaze was constantly moving, watching the people they passed by, as if he expected someone to jump them at any moment.

“They offered me a place at the palace, if you think that would be safer?” What had gotten into him?

“Ya ‘onestly think ye’d be safe in there? We still don’t know who-” He cut himself off and shook his head. “Nah. We’re leavin’ the city.”

“Reshi I don’t want to leave the city!” She tried to pull Reshi to a stop. “I can finally do something good here, you didn’t want me stealing anymore, now there’s something I can do to help everybody!”

“Not at the cost of yer life!” Reshi spun around, gripping her by both shoulders and giving her a shake. “I ain’t gonna let ya throw yer life away. Can ya not fight me on this one thing?”

“Reshi....” She stared at him, her heart pounding. She had never seen him look scared before. She hadn’t thought that he could get scared.

It terrified her.

“Okay.” She said softly. “Okay, but ya have to tell me why.”

“I’ll tell ya. I’ll tell ya everythin’. But first we need ta pack. C’mon.” He started walking again, hurrying but not quite running. Dani fell into step beside him, hoping Mrs. Haversaun wouldn’t be upset that she was missing yet another day of work.