MEGAN. LET’S ALL GO TO THE FOOD COURT.

The trolley was pretty full. A bunch of other students had gotten on at the same time, and they surrounded a few fullage adults. At the front and back were slightly elevated areas with seats facing the ends of the trolley, while in the center there was standing room, with rails and handles, as well as a handful of seats for the elderly and disabled. They had to stand next to the doors, which wasn’t unusual, but Megan felt weird. She didn’t know what to talk about with Angie and Ryan, not with so many other people around them.

Luckily, Ryan and Angie seemed comfortable with the silence between them as they rode the trolley. Ryan seemed to be subtly observing the passengers around them, while Angie stared out the windows as they glided through the streets.

Megan watched Angie look out the window in between stops, the five to ten block hops shuttling them past the lines of tall, slender three to five story tower houses (most of which probably had at least a basement level or two), mostly square, but with enough variations in form and style that not everything looked exactly the same.

Many front gardens were in the process of being harvested. Looking past Angie, Megan saw hundreds of green tomatoes on the vines in front of one house, their weight straining what looked like pretty sturdy trellises. The vines in front of the neighboring house were all bare, with folks out on the lane loading what looked like the last of their baskets full of ripe red tomatoes onto a motorwagon.

Megan returned her attention to Angie. There was a remote look on her face as she watched the passing scenery. Megan wondered what she was thinking about. If she was thinking about Evan.

Megan felt bad. She’d been so excited about meeting Chris, and so petrified of scaring him off if they’d talked about the Exile, and Angie and Ryan had also both seemed really interested in talking to Chris, and neither Angie nor Evan had wanted to talk about the Exile either, and she’d just... not... really paid that much attention to how Evan was reacting. She wondered if he was angry or upset about Chris for some reason? Or had it really just been about her admonishing him about Beth? Or something else Megan had done? She wished she knew.

Maybe she shouldn’t have gone off with Chris after his story. That had been a mistake. She wished Evan had just said something.

Angie turned her head, looked straight into Megan’s eyes, and gave her an impish smile. Megan beamed back. That was the Angie that she remembered. Maybe she shouldn’t be too concerned about Evan.

The trolley slid to a stop for a third time. The three of them stepped through the doors as they opened so they could switch trolleys, turning to walk back west across the north-south lane to the southbound stop. They didn’t start talking again, because it was noisy as other people got off too. They could see the next southbound trolley a couple blocks away even as they crossed to get to its platform.

The southbound trolley arrived, and after a few folks got off, they stepped on, along with a few other transfers. This one was less full, and Angie and Ryan hopped into the pair of empty seats closest to the doors. The pair in front of them had a woman sitting in the window seat, so Megan gingerly sat next to her, turning sideways so that her legs were in the aisle and she could easily turn and look at the others as the trolley started moving forward.

Ryan raised an eyebrow at her.

“What?” Megan asked.

“Seriously though, what’s shakin’? How are things? Other than that everything you know is wrong?”

Megan laughed. “Um,” she said, smiling. “Okay, I’d say. I feel bad about Evan still.”

“Stop worrying about it, Megan,” Angie said. “What’s done is done. He’ll get over it.”

Megan smiled at Angie in thanks. “I hope so. But he was super mad.”

“He’ll get over it,” Angie repeated.

“That’s not what’s shakin’, though,” Ryan said.

“Well…” Megan said, then sighed. “Like I told you this morning, we went to Mumbai this summer. Father went to explore the possibility of investing in a delve into the new mature dungeon outside of Solapur, and Mother went along to work with Doctors Without Borders out in the country,” and at this Ryan whistled, and out of the corner of her eye Megan sensed the woman next to her take a second look at her. “And so I came along too. The people there were nice, but Fredonic Common wasn’t super, uh, common there, and I certainly don’t speak Marathi or even Indic Common. Translators are too prestigious and in demand there to babysit some random Fredonic girl, so, um…” She trailed off with a shrug.

Megan glanced at the woman out of the corner of her eye. She didn’t feel up to talking about this right next to a stranger. Ryan and Angie both nodded at her when she returned her attention to them. They fell silent again for the next minute or so, but that was about all the time that was necessary to reach the stop for the Food Court, so everything worked out, she supposed.

The three of them clambered off the trolley. The Court was still a couple blocks away, which was a pretty good distance in this case; block size varied pretty widely in some areas of Bellevue, with streets and avenues spaced unevenly.

Megan tried to pick up where she left off as they started walking past various storefronts—this was a shopping, dining, and recreational area. “Um, so I spent a lot of time alone, I guess, just at the house we were staying in. I read all the books I brought. I beat all the games on my GameKid DS.” The streets could have been worse; there were a fair number of people out, but the distance between groups mostly exceeded five meters.

“Need a Tennindo Swap,” Ryan said.

“Sure,” Megan said. “I ended up watching inscrutable Marathi television a little, and daydreaming about being home a lot.”

“When I was daydreaming, most of the time, um, I was thinking about hanging out with you guys,” Megan said, looking down at her feet as they walked. “Thinking about stuff we used to do together when we were younger. Goofing off, playing games and watching movies and cartoons and doing book club and listening to music and all the other fun stuff we used to do.” She glanced back up at them. Angie smiled at her as soon as she did. Megan smiled back and said, “I missed it.”

“We still do some of that stuff,” Ryan said. “We haven’t changed. Well, Evan doesn’t like anything anymore, but other than that.

“Is he… depressed?” Megan asked. “I know a bit about that.”

“I mean, yeah,” Ryan said. “But he’s also picky. A tough critic, I’d say.”

“Don’t lie about us,” Angie said, giving Ryan a look. “We’ve changed a lot.”

“Well,” Ryan said, sounding a little grumpy. “What we do together hasn’t changed.”

“That’s not true, either,” Angie said, smiling at him in a rather sultry manner and waggling her eyebrows suggestively. Megan giggled nervously.

“You okay there, Megs?” Ryan asked, ignoring Angie, who waggled her eyebrows at him more even though he wasn’t looking at her. Megan giggled more.

“Yeah, I just didn’t really think too much about you guys doing, um, couple stuff until just then,” Megan said, hoping she wasn’t blushing too much. They were walking past a cafe that Megan might have preferred to the Food Court, but it was maybe a little early to express that preference. She looked through the window at the people inside rather than looking at Angie and Ryan at that particular moment.

“You were checking out my butt earlier but you’re getting the vapors thinking about me and Ryan making out?” Angie asked, her tone teasing. Megan glanced back at her; she was wearing that arch smile again.

“I’m hardly getting the vapors,” Megan said as she blushed more. She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about us when we were younger. And you’re right, you guys have changed. I mean,” she added, “You’re still definitely Ryan and Angie, but you’re different. I am too, I suppose. I’m just still adjusting.”

“Speaking of butts, you didn’t have that one when we were kids,” Angie said, admiration in her tone.

“Thanks?” Megan said. “I think?”

“That’s what I was going for,” Angie said. “I think ‘luscious’ would be an apt descriptor.”

Megan suppressed a sigh, and she glanced down at herself. “That’s what you say about a pear. Which is appropriate I guess, since I’m shaped like one.”

“Yeah, but a really nicely shaped one,” Angie said.

Megan shrugged, trying not to be dour about having this conversation with even her best friends. “Well, thank you. It hasn’t been the most effective at getting guys’ attention, though. I’ve never actually had a boyfriend.” She made a face. “Derrek is dating Tara Baldersen now. With her awesome tourney body. Sometimes I wish I’d actually gotten into tourney as a competitor.”

“You hated weapons practice when we were kids,” Angie said, a dubious tone in her voice.

“Derrek?” Ryan asked. “Lauren’s brother?”

“Yeah,” Megan said to Ryan, sudden warmth in her cheeks at the way he asked. Then she looked back to Angie and continued, “And I know. It’s just that tourney’s so much fun to watch, it seems like it would be really fun to do, too. And then I’d have rad warrior muscles. I just couldn’t get into it when we were younger. Too scary.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Really into Light Bearers, aren’t you?” Ryan said, raising an eyebrow. Megan ignored him.

“Megan, you look great,” Angie said, eyeing her up and down. “I know you’re not like the platonic fighting-woman ideal, but at least you have curves, which is more than I can say. Also, I wanna reminder of what shampoo you’ve been using. I’ve got charms for my hair, and yours still looks better.”

“Aw, I think your look is so great, Angie!” Megan replied. “You can’t really compare your cut and color to mine. My shampoo’s Glindason’s Gilded Locks, from Glindason’s Apothecary. It’s a little place down in south Bellevue.”

“We’ll have to go sometime,” Angie said, smiling.

“Sure,” Megan said, wincing a little. “Just to warn you though, my mother really likes to spring for shampoo. Says my hair is too nice to be cheap.”

“Well, I figured that,” Angie said, smiling. “I’ve been doing grunt work for Mom, lots of little charms to keep the trinket shelves stocked. I’m earning a little gold from that.”

“Is that how Ryan has an iPhone?” Megan asked. “Was it a gift?”

“Aren’t we snoopy?” Ryan said, frowning at her.

Megan blushed again. “I’m just curious. I’m sorry. You were always such a mystery about money stuff.”

“We’ve been talking again for less than a day and you think I’m just going to reveal that mystery now, of all times?” Ryan asked, tone dry.

“I’m so sorry,” Megan said, her face catching on fire and looking at the ground. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s cool he has an Information Phone,” Angie said. “I get it.”

“Yeah, that’s all it really is,” Megan said, her voice getting a little squeaky.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Ryan said, grinning. “I’ve been learning to code, earned a little money that way. Here we are.”

Megan made a face at him, then turned her attention to the Court. At the same time though, she considered his statement. What was he doing with coding that he was earning money with? Building people websites? He was fifteen!

The Food Court took up its own sub-block, fairly spacious paths on either side allowing easy access to the neighboring lane. It was a large square building of gray stone blocks, crenelated at the top like a battlement, with small loophole style windows. The building wasn’t that old—Megan could remember it being built when she was a kid. Not too long after they, she and Angie, met Evan. They’d all been so excited when the Food Court opened.

“Cinnamon rolls, cinnamon rolls, it’s time to eat all the cinnamon rolls,” Angie sort of sang, prancing forward ahead of Megan and Ryan. They both picked up their speed to follow her into the Food Court, Megan smiling at the fact that Angie still sang her little songs like that.

The Food Court was a weird establishment. On the ground floor was the titular food court, which the Court’s owners rented out to a combination of higher-end fast food chains and independent vendors (most of which sold semi gourmet versions of fast foods, fair foods, and street foods, the sort of stuff you’d see in food carts in other parts of the city), along with mall stalwarts like CinnaBlast and Grapefruit Julian.

On the second and third floor were arcades suitable for all ages, their target audience adults with children. Those floors contained a combination of mechanical games of skill like pinball and skeeball along with older, child friendly video games. Megan and the others had spent a lot of time on those floors when they were young.

On the fourth and fifth floors was a bar, accessible to adults and, on Fridays and Saturdays, firstagers. The bar featured a number of pub and tavern games such as darts, pool, and, on select nights, cards (which required patrons to be of fullage).

In the basement, there was a firstage and older arcade, which contained many more modern, more graphic video games. They served alcohol down there, too. Megan knew it was Monday, but she seriously considered getting a beer if they ended up going downstairs for games. She wanted to do so, since she’d never been down there before.

Megan hadn’t been to the Court in years now—Lauren thought the whole place was rather déclassé, she’d made that clear the first time Megan had ever suggested it—and had forgotten about how pungent the actual food court was. When they walked through the doors she had to pause for a second as the aromas smacked her in the face. The smell of so many foods—burritos and curry and burgers and ramen and keiy wat and sausages and suya and pizza and more—all intertwining was a little overwhelming. Not bad, just a lot.

The first floor was maybe half full of people, as far as seating went. A lot of the crowd was other teenagers—if she had to guess, mostly Persephone students who had gotten a move-on faster than the three of them had. Megan spotted a few people she knew, but her crowds usually spent their time elsewhere.

“So,” Ryan said, an anticipatory smile on his face, “I’m going to get me a Bowl o’ Ramen. Anyone want to join me?”

“Cinn-a-Blast!” Angie replied.

“Does Curry Time have any vada pav?” Megan asked. “I haven’t had any since we left Mumbai, and I miss it already.”

“I think so,” Ryan said, “But I don’t know how good it is.”

“It’ll probably be good enough,” Megan said with a shrug. “We want to get a table?”

“Whoever gets done first should get one,” Angie said. “See ya!” And she dashed off in the direction of the CinnaBlast.

“Yeah,” Ryan said. “This place isn’t that full, it should be easy to get one.”

“Okay,” Megan replied. “See you in a bit.”

“See ya.” Ryan stalked through the bustle toward the ramen place.

Megan managed to walk eight whole steps in the direction of Curry Time before a girl’s voice called her name. She turned to see a thin girl of middling height waving at her, who after a second Megan recognized as Aliyah Duniec, Nisha’s ex-girlfriend. She was holding hands with a shorter, slighter girl with darker hair than Aliyah’s sandy brown. After a moment Megan recognized her as a Cora something—Megan had never really crossed paths with her, but she’d gone to Asphodel too.

“Hey, Megan!” Aliyah said when she and Cora reached Megan, who had paused as she’d determined their identities. “Didn’t expect to see you here. Doesn’t really seem like your scene.”

Megan stared at her, not feeling entirely friendly. “Hi Aliyah. I could say the same about you. Why do you say that?”

“Oh, you know, just the party you run with,” Aliyah replied, then glanced at Cora. “You guys know each other?” Megan didn’t bother to correct her in calling Lauren and the girls a party—that was Lauren’s hill to die on, and Aliyah fucking knew, anyway.

“Nah,” Cora said, quirking one corner of her lip up. “I know who she is, but we’ve never talked before.”

“Megan,” Aliyah said, gesturing “This is my girl Coralie Rocard. She’s starting ninth year at Asphodel.”

Megan gave them a strained smile. “Nice to meet you properly, Coralie. Is that what you like to go by? All I could remember was Cora something.”

“Yeah, please call me Coralie,” Coralie said with a nod and a return smile. She had a nice smile, dainty and dimpled, with a flash of teeth. Megan could see why Aliyah would be into her.

“Will do,” Megan replied with a nod.

“So, what you up to here?” Aliyah asked.

“You know,” Megan said, “I’m just here with Angie and Ryan. We’re just getting food and chatting I think, though I guess Ryan might drag us to the arcade, too. I don’t know yet.” Aliyah obviously knew what that meant, her eyes growing wide.

“Who now?” Coralie drawled.

“Angie McMillan and Ryan d’Maughan,” Megan said.

Coralie stared at her, shock blossoming onto her face. “The… the red head and the tiny blond guy? Who hang out with the tallish skinny kid?” Coralie asked.

Megan nodded coldly and said, “Yeah, them. We’re friends from way back. We went through a rough patch.”

“Sacred fucks, are you unexiling the Exiles?” Coralie asked, her brown eyes wide.

Megan felt her face twist. “I did not exile them, so I am not unexiling them. I think what happened to them is abhorrent and I can’t believe everyone went along with it and kept it from me.”

Both girls shrank back. “Well, you’re unexiling them,” Aliyah offered. “Er, you’re hanging out with them and um, so they’re effectively, so it won’t apply anymore.”

“I think the whole ‘the Exiles’ thing is childish, too,” Megan said. She tossed her head and continued. “People should mind their own business rather than labeling other people based on nothing but hearsay and guesswork. I can’t believe people spent three years gossipping about them. And me, I assume.” Their expressions utterly failed to assure her that her assumption was wrong. “At any rate, they are my friends and I’m doing my best to put all that behind us.”

“Um. Oh! I heard you all lunched with the new Light Bearer! Chris!” Aliyah said, using the same tone Megan imagined she herself would use if she’d asked about someone’s family member and it turned out they’d been exiled for murder.

“Yeah,” Megan said, feeling her cheeks get warmer, irrational as that was.

“Them all?” Coralie said. “Like her and the Exiles? That’s fucking insane. Those three are spooky. I can’t imagine them hanging out with you, let alone a Light Bearer.” She was clearly the sort of person who loved digging holes.

“Sure, a Light Bearer, but why not me?” Megan said, no longer bothering to keep her displeasure at this conversation off her face or out of her voice.

“‘Cause of how fucking gorgeous you are,” Coralie said.

Megan still blinked at the baldness of the statement. These sorts of statements, already occasional, had become endemic after she’d turned fifteen, and she still didn’t understand it. Like, she knew she was pretty, she wasn’t a fool—it was just how direct people were willing to be, how often they let it color the things they would say to her and the things they apparently thought about her. She was an adult now, so people thought it was now okay to say stuff like that to her, she guessed, and they were trying to compliment her, mostly. Usually it was a little more subtle, but Coralie still had a full year of middle school yet to go.

But it’s not like Megan was a tourney girl or anything. She wasn’t hot and toned like Nisha or Lauren were. She just didn’t understand it.

At any rate, Aliyah’s expression on hearing her girlfriend call Megan ‘gorgeous’ could be best described as somewhere between ‘stony’ and ‘furious.’

“Oh relax,” Coralie said to Aliyah. “It was just an observation. Look at her blushing at you asking about the Light Bearer. You have nothing to worry about, babe.”

“It’s still part of a mean idea,” Megan said coldly as she tried to control her fury. “Since you’re either insulting my friends by saying there’s something wrong with them, or insulting me by implying I couldn’t be accepting of people who are different, or both.”

Coralie shrank back, stepping half behind Aliyah, who took a step away from her to leave her exposed again. In a small voice she said, “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to be mean. I just was saying what I felt, which is that they’re creepy. That Angie girl talks to birds and squirrels sometimes, which, I mean, that’s cool an’ all, it’s just a little disconcerting, you know?”

Megan did not let any trace of forgiveness touch her face, and Coralie went on, talking faster. “Which would be fine, really, but that Evan kid walks around like he’d be just as happy shooting you as talking to you. And that little guy’s always wearing this expression like he knows something you don’t, and that whatever it is you won’t like it if he tells. Like he knows a secret that would ruin your life if it got out.” She shuddered, and it didn’t seem to be for effect.

“It’s been great catching up, Aliyah,” Megan said, imagining her words freezing them both solid. “I hope you guys have fun.” Then she turned and walked toward Curry Time without waiting to hear a reply.