The night brought generous rain but the morning sky was cloudless. Hefri considered this to be perfect weather for her plants.

She knelt next to a bush with young, undergrown leaves. Her garden was placed on the roof near her apartment and everyone who saw it described it as the best maintained place in the whole castle. The fruits from it always grew large and tasty, and the dwarf trees were the first to bloom and the last to defoliate.

Hefri plucked out dead sprigs and weeds while Erilaz lied stretched out on a bench, reading something on his LiqBoard. Andvari sat on the ground under a tree with his head resting on his fist. He languidly gazed down at the pavement, only sometimes picking a moss from the slits or playing with blades of grass.

"Finally some peacetime, right?" asked Hefri, digging in the ground. After a few seconds without response, she turned towards Erilaz.

"Right?" she raised her voice.

"Yeah," mumbled Erilaz with his eyes following the walls of text on his device. "You can dig under your shrubs without bullets flying above your head."

Hefri sat with her legs crossed and tilted her head. "What are you reading? I see you with your LiqBoard everywhere."

"Something educational. You should read it too."

She rolled her eyes. "Really? A big shiny guy fights anyone and anything. Big deal." She wiped the dirt out of her small shovel. "He's not the first and not the last one. Our galaxy knows many like him."

Erilaz glanced at her from behind his LiqBoard. "The Chromed Emperor is different." A flicker of fascination sparked in his eyes. "Look, he's been known to us for seven years and he already rules over eleven planets." Before Hefri responded, he added, "What's more, he united seven of them without a fight."

Hefri sighed. She understood why he was so interested in modern and historical leaders. "And you're still living your childhood dream?"

Erilaz didn't respond, pretending to be reading intently.

Hefri smiled and giggled noiselessly. She closed her eyes, mimicking Erilaz's words, "But I don't want to be a warrior, I want to be a great, wise diplomat."

Seeing no reaction again, she drooped her arms and scowled at him. "You should be happy that King Brymir chose you to be Vardir. Not just some Vardir, not even the Captain." She spread her arms. "The Commander himself!"

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"Exactly," muttered Erilaz. "He chose."

Hefri sighed with resignation. Erilaz was right. Brymir planned every detail of his future, but Erilaz didn't resist. Seeing that he made Brymir proud was sufficient compensation.

Hefri had a completely different approach. Joining the ranks of the best students in the Royal Academy was her only chance to secure a stable future for her parents and herself. Her father needed medical treatment, and her mother had to take care of him and the whole household. All Vardir, depending on their rank, got high bonuses and other privileges so Hefri could support her family. However, that good will has its price–the last time she visited her parents was three years ago. She messaged them and communicated through video chat, but she missed the smell of northern pine forests and the taste of fresh baked sweets.

"For me it's not a big deal," she said, digging in the ground. "We don't live in a constant war, our existence is pretty comfortable... Others can only dream about a life like this."

Erilaz grunted, still reading his book. "Everything is so easy for you..."

Hefri smiled. "King Brymir always told me I was born to be a soldier. I didn't disagree." She shrugged. "Why should I oppose his wise choices..."

Erilaz shook his head with a resigned smile and continued his reading. Breathing evenly, he inhaled the pleasant smell of rain, young flowers and damp grass. The warm sun illuminated the wet roofs and plants with a soft glow. Luckily for Erilaz, the birds in their newly constructed nests chirped softly and didn't distract him. The more he focused on the present time, the less he concerned himself with the horrifying memories. They seemed to completely fade into the background. The nightmares have given way to his typical sleep schedule, and he could focus on the previous, normal life and think about the future.

The sudden sound of a handclap made him jump. He raised his head above the LiqBoard and looked around.

"Wait, Andvari was here all along?" he asked.

"Yeah..." muttered Andvari, wiping his hands in his trousers. "Damned mosquitoes," he hissed under his breath, "little shitty bastards began to hatch out of their crappy eggs..."

"Are you sleeping here?" called Hefri, throwing a clump of grass on a pile of other weeds.

Andvari rested his head on his fist again. "I'm busy."

Hefri wiped her forehead in a dramatic gesture. "Propping the wall, what an absorbing task..."

"I'm thinking," responded Andvari, nervously scratching a pale green lichen off the pavement.

"Ah..."

Erilaz peeked from behind the LiqBoard. "Can we help?"

"I have something to do." Andvari stood up and brushed the dust off his trousers. "If you don't need my help, I'm gonna do a few things here and there."

Hefri swung her hand. "I can handle it." She pointed at the bush. "You can't even tell the difference between the lower irrigation stem and the prehensile root."

Andvari turned on his heel. "See you later." He raised his hand in a parting gesture and headed towards the door.

Hefri stretched her legs out, watching how the door slid shut behind her friend. She turned towards Erilaz. He tapped something on the screen and read again.

Hefri angrily ripped a brown weed as if she was decapitating her arch-enemy.

She sighed. "He can just spend the whole day digging between the cables and wires..."

Erilaz glanced at her from behind the LiqBoard. "And you're digging in the ground right now."

Hefri glared at him, craning her neck towards him. "Go back to your fairy tales," she ordered and leant over the shrub again.