She took it back. This night was terrible and she wanted it to end as soon as possible. The dance had been fun while they were enthralled in the music, but getting accosted by a wild crowd as soon as they finished was not fun at all. It had taken a lot of fiddling to escape their grabbing hands.

  Not that they would do something as improper as grabbing her, but it definitely felt like it with how directed their gazes were. Eileen could feel it baring down on her as soon as the music came to a stop. It had taken everything in her to not tense from the expectations in front of her.

  Worst of all, it seemed like the girls from earlier were still lingering where they’d left them. She had a feeling that as much as the dance had helped her escape the situation, it wouldn’t stay that way for long. She knew she could easily tell them off, but there was nothing to tell them off for.

  It would be petty beyond what she found acceptable to pick fights for no reason. Besides, they were harmless compared to some of the other people in the room. Such as the couple they were currently trapped in a conversation with.

  “That was quite impressive,” the man told her, “I wouldn’t have expected a man from the outskirts of Calguren to know our dances.”

  Eileen decided it was best to ignore the backhanded nature of the compliment. “Well, it’s always best to learn something about the culture of the region you’re visiting.”

  “Still.” The word was said in a ckluster manner, but Eileen could feel her smile tensing in the silence that followed.

  “It was amazing wasn’t it? The night isn’t over, perhaps you could go and dance as well.”

  Leave it to Ay to miss the whole point of the comment and still manage to deliver a blow. As unintended as it was. It almost made her ugh, but she managed to hold it back.

  “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” Eileen smiled. “I must admit that I don’t know much about Teodes customs. It would be great to see the dancing of authentic civilians.”

  They looked a little uncomfortable, but could hardly disagree when they’d voiced their amazement. Even more so when it was a polite suggestion. To protect their reputation more than anything else.

  “Perhaps ter.” Then they were gone.

  Eileen decided that it was as good a time as any to say their goodbyes and leave. This night had already been eventful enough. In more ways than one.Aylooked exhausted as well, so it didn’t take much to convince her it was best to leave.

  Having left her car at home and not wanting to leave Ay by herself, it was an unspoken agreement for them to take Ay’s carriage instead. It was a little hot, which had her shucking her coat on the seat and rolling up the sleeves of her father’s, now hers, shirt. The leather of the seat was very comfortable all things considered.

  “You didn’t have to come to drop me off.”Ay yawns, but doesn’t seem to quite seem to agree with her own words.

  “There’s many reasons why I don’t feel comfortable leaving you on your own right now Ayles.”

  “Such as?”Aytilted her head to the side.

  Well. That answered the question of whetherAyhad noticed anything amiss. It seems that even after having a knife go past her face, she was still oblivious to the implications of the action. Which left her in a very uncomfortable situation.

  Should she try to preserve that innocence, seeing as there wasn’t very much of it left in the world? Eileen had a feeling that she didn’t think anyone would try to kill someone in a crowded ballroom. Ay still saw that as something out of a book, fictional and something that wouldn’t happen in real-life.

  The other option was to enlighten her to the implications of the action and dampen her faith in the world’s justness. But it was also the option that involved telling her the truth. The one that would be able to prepare for repeats of this situation should they occur. And Eileen didn’t find the decision as difficult.

  “Such as the a fact that someone threw a knife in a crowd and then escaped.”

  Her eyes widened. “You don’t think…”

  “I do,” Eileen ruffled her hair, or well the shorter wig of it. “Knives tipped with poison don’t throw themselves.”

  “But no one panicked!”

  No they did not. It made her grimace again at the thought that finding something fascinating could blind people to what was right in front of them. “I think they might have forgotten about it after seeing someone catch the knife.”

  As unhelpful as it was, people tended to panic more when someone got hurt instead of almosts. If someone had been stabbed with the knife, there would have undoubtedly have been panic, but since it had been caught there was none. It probably made them view it as more a party trick than the threat it was.

  Ayseemed to have remembered something, because suddenly Eileen’s hands were being grabbed and investigated. It made her come out of her thoughts to look at her in confusion.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You said the tip was poisoned!”Ay’shead didn’t move from where she was inspecting her fingers. “And you caught it.”

  “Yes,” Eileen replied in a pcating voice, “but I caught it by the handle.”

  “You still have it with you.” The accusing gleam in her eyes was not lost on her.

  “I cleaned it.” Eileen pushed a gem on her ring and pulled out a cloth. “This is a cloth which neutralises most poisons.”

  “It is?”Ay didn’t sound convinced, but she still let go of Eileen’s hands, rexing a little at the thought.

  “Yes. It is. Besides, I wouldn’t dance with you with poison covered gloves. I cleaned it while I was fiddling with it right after catching it.”

  “Is that why you were spinning it over your fingers?”

  That made her smile. “Yes. It’s easier to hide its work that way.”

  “But there was no cloth.”

  “My gloves were made with the same material.”

  “Were?”

  “Of course.” Eileen gave her a meaningful gnce. “I changed them straight after.”

  “I didn’t notice.”

  “Ay, darling. That was the entire point.”

  Her friend’s eyes narrowed even as Eileen saw the way her body rexed at the confirmation that she hadn’t been poisoned. Then a smile bloomed on her lips and she simply started ughing.

  “Why are you ughing?” Eileen didn’t know whether or not to be worried about this sudden bought of ughter.

  “You…” A ugh, “You managed to attract a really big crowd even without trying.”

  Ah. So her mind had moved on to another topic. That made slightly more sense. It was very like her.

  “No need to rub it in.” She sighed. “I really don’t know how this happened.”

  For whatever reason, that only made Ay ugh harder. The ughter grew until she was bent over in silent ughter. Eileen tried to be annoyed, but couldn’t stop a smile from coming to her face as she watched on.

  “Speaking of crowds,” Eileen gave her a pointed look, “why didn’t you walk away from those girls when they were crowding into you?”

  “What girls…Oh!” Ay shook her head with a smile. “It just didn’t seem necessary.”

  It had seemed necessary to Eileen. She had a feeling that their youth, and most likely their parents, would have made them do something extreme if she hadn’t cut in. She’d seen them sizing her up as she had walked out of the door. But, deciding that maybe she’d changed her friend’s worldview enough for the day, she simply hummed in answer.

  “If you say so.”

  The moments that followed were a welcome calm after the chaotic mess the rest of the night had been. They soon fell into a comfortable silence, watching the world pass by through the windows. Eileen found herself resting her face on the palm of a hand as she traced the passing blur of trees.

  Stars shimmered in the sky, casting a faint glow on the world below. With the clouds gone after the storm, the night sky was unobstructed, and it made it easy to see the gaxies of stars. She smiled as she took it in. There was no doubt that Ay would use the opportunity to use her telescope after not being able to for the past few days.

  It slipped when her mind once again went back to the knife resting in her pocket. Although she’d removed the poison from its tip, the smell of rotting iron still clung to it. It was unusual and indicated that a strong enough dose had been used that it still left an after effect on the tool. With the thought of a tool, the scrap of cloth entered her thoughts next.

  The scratchy texture made it difficult to ascertain the quality of the clothes it came off of. It would need to beanalysedby someone who was an expert in the field, otherwise there was very little chance of her getting much out of it at all. Fortunately, there was someone in her grandpa’s troops who’d be able to do so easily.

  She’d just have to bake a cake to go along with it. The st time anyone had asked June for a favor without giving her incentive, they’d been punched in the face immediately. Not that she’d hit her, especially not since she’d practically helped raise her, but it was still nice to give a gift in return.

  Gifting June a cake had become a custom ever sinceArenhad somehow managed to punt a rock through her window. He and Damien had ran for hours hiding from her wrath and adults in general until she’d found them crouched behind a boulder. They’d been quick to jump on her idea of baking a cake toapologisebut had no idea where to start.

  Eileen almost ughed aloud at the memory of them covered in flour with no clue how to proceed. Younger Eileen had let them fumble for a few minutes ter before finally stepping in to walk them through the steps. Which had had the unexpected consequence of them now sending her a cake every time they did something to make her angry.

  “There is something I need to tell you.”

  Ay’s voice brought her out of her thoughts enough to turn away from the window to meet her eyes. Eileen tilted her head at the sight that awaited her. She had her hands twisted in her p and was biting her lips.

  “Alright,” She spoke slowly, “what do you need to tell me?”

  It must be something big. Especially if she was nervous. It wasn’t often that she saw her friend get nervous.

  “I may or may not have promised my mother she could meet my date on the weekend.” Ay blurted the words out and seemed to tense in anticipation of her reaction.

  On her part, Eileen didn’t really feel it was something to be too annoyed about. Then the words filtered and she understood why Ay was so nervous about telling her this. It meant this charade would have to go on for longer than a few days.

  If Ay’s parents wanted to meet her, it meant they probably expected it to be a long-term retionship. They were too busy with responsibilities to make time to meet a casual date. Eileen expected herself to be a little more stunned, but she couldn’t quite muster up the emotion.

  “Hmm.” She paused, mind racing on how to answer. “As long as I don’t have to go to another ball, I don’t think I’ll mind to much.”

  Whatever words Ay had been expecting her to say, that probably wasn’t it.

  “Really? That’s it.” She looked at Eileen incredulously, “but you were so against this idea.”

  “Well, I’ve already committed to keeping my voice like this for this long, why not a little longer?”

  Another decision she had insisted on is that they needed to keep voices constant when in a disguise and that after finding one, it would need to stay for the whole duration of the time wearing it. She’d developed the habit from training with her grandpa and the troops, and it had stuck. Ay knew about it since she’d written it into her letters more than once over the years.

  So saying that she was committed to keeping the voice was the same as saying that she was alright with keeping the disguise going for a little longer as well. Which she supposed was the reason a grin was now on Ay’s face as she looked at Eileen. Even when the carriage pulled to a stop, Ay made no move to get out.

  Instead, she moved forward and glomped Eileen with her tiny yet strong body. Squeezing tight as Eileen returned the hug.

  “Thank you.”

  The whispered words conveyed her relief and her happiness and Eileenrealisedthat it really had been weighing on her. Perhaps for longer than she’d let on. Which was silly, because she would never have done anything that would hurt her friend. Or be angry at her for asking.

  Aywas her oldest friend. She was the one constant she’d had even when her life had been turned upside down by the death of her parents. As much as she knew her grandpa loved her, he didn’t fully understand how to console a grieving child who’s just lost her parents. Especially when he was grieving himself. So,Ayhad decided to pick up the sck.

  She could still remember ten-year-old Ay coming up to her in the aftermath and engulfing her in a hug. She hadn’t moved even when Eileen had been shaking with tears and would have undoubtedly have been heavy. Staying in the same comforting position until her grandpa had came and engulfed her in a hug of his own.

  So instead of replying with the typical ‘your welcome’, she simply replied with a “of course.” Because of course she was going to help.

  As she pulled back from the hug, Eileen could see Ay’s eyes being a little teary. When Ay went to wipe them, she decided to pretend she hadn’t noticed, because it didn’t seem she wanted her to. But there was one point she had to make.

  “I’m still never want to go to one of those ball again though.” Which only made Ay ugh.