Briar switched disguises back into her swordsman disguise in a dark corner and returned to Madam Rothema’s observation room. Right before entering, she noticed there were extra presences within. She paused for a moment, then entered cautiously, prepared in case of a sudden ambush.

As soon as she entered, though, she relaxed her stance. She knew them. Grandpa Thur, Rien, Karu, Master Thales, and Laura had made the rather large observation room seem moderately cozy, now. There was even an extra couch and set of table and chairs which had been set out for the extra people.

“It’s Briar! He’s back!” Rien called, running to Briar to grab onto her right arm. “Yipee! It’s Briar!” Karu followed, grabbing onto her left arm.

“Hey! Careful there!” Briar laughed, lifting Rien up with one arm as she clung there persistently. Rien giggled with laughter as she almost let go, but managed to hold on for about ten more seconds before giving up and dropping three inches back down to the floor.

“Me too! Do that with me too!” Karu asked, holding on tight to Briar’s left arm. Briar winced. That was her injured arm.

“No can do on that arm, Karu. Here, grab my right-” Briar paused, then turned to look at Rien, who had possessively latched onto Briar’s right arm again.

“Again! Again!” She cried.

“But I just gave you a ride. It’s Karu’s turn.” Briar replied.

“Karu can hold onto your other arm!” Rien said. “This arm is mine!”

Briar looked at Karu then back at Rien, then she glanced at Rothema, with a questioning look. Rothema hid a smile behind her hand, and shook her head slightly.

Briar turned her face to Karu. “Later” she mouthed. Then Briar suddenly sat down on the floor. “Oh, suddenly I’m feeling super sleepy.” She pretended to yawn. “I’m so sleepy I think I might just lie down and sleep right here.” She leaned against Rien, who was still holding onto her arm, and pretended to fall asleep.

Rien stood there, unsure of what to do. She had never come across a situation like this. She tried shaking Briar’s shoulder a bit to wake her up.

“Briar-nii! Briar-nii!” she called.

“Mmmm Five more hours….” Briar mumbled back at her. Grandpa Thur simply laughed out loud.

Laura also laughed and decided to lend a hand. “You’re not going to wake him up that way. If you still want a ride, I can give you one!” She flexed an arm. Karu, backed away, wary from his last encounter with Laura.

Rien made a face at Laura. “No way! You’re not Briar-nii! Who do you think you are? His wife or something?”

“Pfft!” That made Helen laugh. Rothema’s shoulders also began to shake as she tried not to chuckle. Laura tried to hold herself together and not laugh as she replied with a strange expression on her face.

“I may not be Briar’s wife, but I most certainly am Briar’s friend! Why? Are you thinking of being married to Briar?”

“YES! I am!” Rien announced. Briar fell over. I am going to trash this disguise as soon as possible. She determined.

Helen descended into helpless giggles. Laura laughed. Rothema couldn’t help but chuckle as well. However, Grandpa Thur had stopped laughing.

“Stop laughing! It isn’t nice to laugh at Briar!” Rien scolded, thinking they were laughing at Briar for falling down.

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“But, Rien, didn’t you say you were going to marry me when you grew up?” Grandpa Thur asked.

“I’m going to marry you first, and Briar after!” Rien said.

That response made Grandpa Thur’s expression grow a bit stony. If Rien were serious about marrying Briar, then this old man would not stand silently by. He would definitely test Briar’s mettle. Briar felt a bloodthirsty aura begin to emanate from the old man.

Wonderful. Rien, you just managed to make an enemy for me out of your Grandpa. And, old man, don’t go taking the words of a seven year old so seriously! Briar cried inwardly.

“I don’t think you understand the meaning of marriage” Laura said, still laughing.

“I do! You marry someone because you love them, and then live happily ever after!” Rien replied.

“But marriage can only happen between one man and one woman.” Laura said. “And I’m pretty certain that you have to be of age first. Not matter how you see it, I’m closer towards being married to your precious Briar-nii than you are~!” She teased.

“Nwu!!!” Rien pouted and started striking at Laura with her tiny fists. “I will get married to Briar-nii! I’ll fight you for him!” Her face turned red with effort.

“What a violent wife!” Laura gasped. “What would Briar think about this I wonder?”

She would calmly ask you to stop instigating things before threatening you to make you stop. Briar muttered in her heart. Things were getting out of hand.

Rien stopped and pensively looked at Briar, who was still pretending to sleep. Then she took a deep breath and let it go, before walking over to sit by her Grandpa Thur. She accepted the offered glass of iced tea, and proceeded to act as if everything hadn’t happened.

Laura was dumbfounded. “Ara? What happened to your attitude from earlier? Do you not want to marry Briar-nii after all?”

Rien shook her head. “I really do want to marry Briar-nii. But, if Briar doesn’t like violent people for his wife, then I have nothing to worry about.” Rien had heard from Karu about the demon-girl named Laura. Moreover, if Rien lost her temper here, then that would mean that she lost the bet she had made with Karu.

“What does that mean?” Laura asked, making a face.

Karu smirked. That morning he had once again tricked Rien into another deal. If she lost her temper more than three times, he would get to eat her desert that day. But, being able to see Rien earn a strike on Laura was more than slightly satisfying. Unfortunately, Laura noticed his mirth.

“Hmmm? What are you smirking at?” Laura glared at him.

“Nothing.” Karu looked away innocently.

Briar had to steel herself not to laugh. Laura had dug her own grave there, and Briar had no intentions of helping her out of this one. Gauging the distance between her and the curtain blocking the room, she waited until the people’s eyes weren’t on her. Then she quickly rolled out of sight behind the curtain, easily slipping out of sight.

“But, still, little girl.” Laura turned and smiled sweetly at Rien. “I’m not the only people out there that you have to contend against for Briar’s hand. All the eligible young maidens out here at this festival are hoping to become your Briar-nii’s wife!”

Rien jerked in shock, looking as if the sky had shattered about her. Recalling the many young girls who had cried out “Marry Me!” in the stands earlier. Rien sniffed as tears began forming on her face. Grandpa Thur glared at Laura. Anyone who made his granddaughter cry would feel his wrath.

Briar, who had heard it, sighed. “You really are a devil, making a little girl cry like that.” She muttered.

Being a person of excellent hearing, Laura easily heard the tiny voice which could barely be heard even next to the speaker. She turned aside and muttered in reply. “Better she knows now and gives up on the impossible, then to live on a false hope.”

Briar was about to say something then paused. While what Laura said was true, Briar felt that she really couldn’t accept the way that Laura had dashed Rien’s dreams to bits like that. But it was also not good for Rien to wait for a man that would not exist in the near future. Moreover, she was still debating whether she should reveal her disguise to Grandpa Thur and the other two, or just bring her fake character to an untimely death somewhere…

While, in her past profession, she would have no qualms with simply killing her fake persona off, she was Thera now-er…Thera playing the role of ‘Briar’. These were people that she knew, and cared about. More and more, Briar felt that she shouldn’t be lying to those she cares about. It was pricking at her heart. Once or twice was negligible-but this was beginning to pick up the pace like a regular heartbeat kind of pricking pain.

Cleverness was all well and good, but if you couldn’t be honest to your friends, what good was it?

She fiddled around with her voice-changing scarf for a bit. She had been using it to change voices between the male Briar and the female Briar, but now she was extremely tempted to throw off her disguise and reveal the truth to them.

At the last moment, she took a deep breath, and dropped the edge of the scarf. She would not reveal herself. Not yet.

“Hey! Where did Briar go!?” Rien suddenly asked.