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“Don’t have t’ change out of anything,” you declared, “Gunpowder’s not a bad smell. C’mon, let’s go shoot some while we don’t gotta share the range.”
Karel’s smile ebbed a little. “Are you sure you don’t want to change into something else? Besides, surely you haven’t eaten yet today.”
“Nah,” you said, losing patience, and not wanting to have food brought up <span class="mu-i">again</span> while you were <span class="mu-i">famished</span>, you grabbed his wrist and pulled him along the path. “Besides, I don’t wanna pull this thing off ‘til I have to.” If getting out of it was as hard as getting it on.
You had pulled Van Halm about halfway across the Academy grounds before he shook his wrist loose of yours. “Judge Above, Anya,” he said with a stifled laugh, “The lady is nowhere near here to offend, you’ll give the <span class="mu-i">rest</span> of the city gossip.”
That concern was returned with a stilted shrug. “Fuck ‘em.” You had nothing to hide. Not like Richter’s own crewmen hadn’t stuffed you and him into a hotel while drunk in Sosaldt once, and that implied more than a <span class="mu-i">date</span>. “Who’s this lady, anyways? I haven’t heard you talkin’ ‘bout her before.”
“I haven’t,” Van Halm told you, “But I’m sure you know of her. The family of Von Blum only has one marriageable daughter from their main household left, and <span class="mu-i">her</span> sister is married to the man who retains you.”
Oh, her. “Yeah, I know who that is,” you said, “I don’t remember her name, just that she looks exactly the same as her sister. And her sister’s a huge, massive bitch.” Though not in stature.
Karel tilted his head with a frown. “That isn’t an appraisal I hear often. Do you have a rivalry between you?”
“No. I didn’t do anything that she’s got any reason t’ be so sour about as she is,” you chuffed, annoyed now. “Ain’t my fault she’s at home sittin’ on her fat ass instead a’ being out there with somebody she cares about.”
“Are you sure you are one to talk about that?” Karel asked.
…That stung a little. “Hey, I’m here t’ help more than I could before, I didn’t ask the Almizeans t’-“
“What? No,” Karel interrupted you, “I wasn’t talking about that.” He leaned himself back, exaggerated his tilt, pointed his head down.
“…Fuck off,” you reached out and flicked his nose like a fly, “I don’t have a fat ass.” <span class="mu-i">It hadn’t been grabbed in a while</span>. But you were relieved. Honestly, you’d rather be up there, but what was down here, everybody agreed, had been more important to do- especially while your arm was broken.
Yet Richter wasn’t your <span class="mu-i">fiancée</span>, not your <span class="mu-i">husband. And you’d gone over to Magnus while it had been worse.
Even so…</span>
