Hardball. Cheap tactics. A ruthless maneuver. Whatever you called it, the king of Calliope was not playing around. Amelia had thought the lavish estate was over the top; her senior diplomats cautioned her that it was just the velvet on a velvet glove. The blow arrived in the form of the summit itself, just five hours after the evening reception ended. Amelia might have cried had she not been too stubborn to give them the satisfaction. Instead she simply laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling for a few hours. Well, I can't have nightmares if I don't sleep, she thought.

But she had a card up her puffy satin sleeves, too. The cutesy pink dresses were a feint. Amelia was charging into the day wearing Seyruun's signature white and gold in a dazzling outfit she'd commissioned for the occasion. "I need to look as pure and righteous as the local goddess Abundantia," she'd declared, then added: "Also the goddess should look like a combat hero." Fortunately, the royal designers were accustomed to these sorts of requests.

Not even the world's most gifted tailors could solve the eternal riddle, unsolved by the wisest minds among humans and shinzoku alike, of how to make white formal dresses that don't look like wedding dresses. They'd leaned into the problem and created an ensemble fit for a legendary warrior goddess/queen/bride dashing from the altar to slay a quick dragon. It was intimidating. It was dazzling. And when the sun hit her bangles at just the right angles, it was blinding. Certainly no one could see the entire pot of concealer applied under her eyes.

Her transformation delighted the maids, who genuinely liked the chance to play dress-up with their independent, rough-and-tumble princess. When she was ready they opened the doors so the whole household could ooh and ahh their approval. "Oh, Princess! You look so lovely!"

"Yes, like an avenging angel of...of all the holy things!"

Amelia leapt up and struck a pose, one leg raised high on a chair and the other on her dressing table. "It's not about loveliness, it's about righteousness!" As she strode out, dragon-slaying-worthy skirts swishing, she spotted a perfect porcelain cup of einspänner untouched on an end table.

It was a kind detail... too kind. And too personal. Not more than five people in the whole world knew that she could only tolerate coffee when piled high with whipped cream and dusted with generous chocolate curls, a preparation she'd discovered years ago when traveling through Dragon's Peak with Lina and the others.

Amelia looked around suspiciously. There was no one in that room among the assembled household staff who would have known that about her. It was precisely the sort of intimate detail a conniving king would send out their spies to learn.

I won't do it, Amelia thought. No matter how much she longed for that perfectly pillowy whipped cream, no matter how much she needed that coffee, she had to refuse. It was probably poisoned anyway. "Let's go," she said, turning away with a haughty sniff. "The world needs justice!" Supported by diplomats, ministers, and knights, the princess went to hand-deliver Seyruun's special order of justice to the parliamentary building just a few blocks away.

Amelia marched to her place at a central point on a long stretch of white carpet marked by a red equal-armed cross. A dramatic golden chandelier with branches like sword blades hung far overhead. The ministers and lords of Calliope watched her from their back benches, positioned in rectangles around the king's massive ivory throne. Some people saw the princess and gasped, or at least nodded their approval of her choice in couture. Many were still nursing hangovers from the night before.

This is it. The moment I've trained for!

"To our fellow brothers and sisters in justice, love, and compassion!" she began, in a voice that was alien to her own ears. She slowly turned her head back and forth to acknowledge the assembly. It was a very specific type of move that had to be practiced, like the Royal Crowd Wave and the Passive-Aggressive Curtsy. "The kingdom of Seyruun supports you as an ally in our shared cause of global peace and prosperity. But there can be no shortcuts in the work of creating wealth. We are here to address grave allegations of improper monetary practices that pose a threat to the people of Calliope and all its allied kingdoms.

"If we confirm you are illegally altering your money supply or intentionally manipulating the value of your currency in violation of the law, we will have no choice but to take the most severe action!"

"The law, is that it?" This interruption came not from the king of Calliope, but a beady-eyed minister with fleshy jowls and a smirk that anyone less polite than Amelia would have described as 'punchable'. "The law that Seyruun makes. Mighty Seyruun makes the rules and the rest of the world has no choice but to follow."

"Seyruun derives its might from its millions of people who believe in our kingdom and our ideals!"

"Seyruun derives its might from a most fortunate aggregation of natural resources and centuries of strong-arming her neighbors." The man waggled his finger at her. "You have hundreds of years of laws and treaties written to keep Seyruun on top, and yet that's not enough. Seyruun is so greedy that it can't even allow a traditionally poor island to enjoy its fortune! How shameful!"

Such a wicked accusation made her blood boil and she nearly shouted back, only to recall one of her first diplomacy lessons from her father. "Look at this dove," he'd said, showing off a fragile little bird in his massive meaty hands. She could still hear its puzzled coos. "Look how peaceful it is! Do you know why it's so peaceful?"

"Because it's got a pure heart?" Even as a five-year-old Amelia had learned that was the answer to many of his questions.

"Yes! This dove isn't being dragged into pointless fights! Instead of getting mad, it just…" The crown prince had fully opened up his fingers; after a pause, the dove fluttered off into the bright summer sky. "...flies away. Remember, Amelia. Lots of people will try to drag you down. Don't let them! Fly away, be the dove!"

Be the dove, Amelia thought, gripping the edges of her dress harder to keep her hands from shaking. Don't get mad. Be the dove. She took a deep breath that rattled in her throat. "The kingdom of Seyruun is deploying auditors representing the kingdom and the Alliance of Coastal States to confirm or deny these charges and any potential indicators of related secondary activities, such as bank fraud and money laundering across major industries."

There were a few whispers and newly stony faces from a bench of ministers in a far corner of the room. Yes! I knew it! Well, if you were unjustly manipulating your local markets, expensive real estate that conveniently kept exploding was a good way to keep things under control. But it couldn't last. Soon Calliope would have more money than they could either send away or set on fire, and impoverish their own people in the process. What would they do then?

What they could do, it turned out, was play games, belittling her and Seyruun and the very concept of laws with a lot of cowardly moral relativism. They tried to get her hung up on the smallest details and most technical definitions. The king sat unmoving and unspeaking on his throne, another humiliation she was forced to endure. It was nearly an hour before she made it through her opening speech, by which point she was so worn down she thought she might swoon.

Her leg kept twitching. It's just nerves. She hoped the secondary speakers might take the floor to relieve her, but they spoke from their places, forcing her to stand like a target and take their haranguing all morning long. They didn't have an argument, or even a serious counter-proposal. They just wanted to stall. Stall all you want, she thought. We have investigators combing the whole country. But her eyelids were getting heavy, and so was her crown, and even her tongue felt a bit fuzzy. She could have really used that einspänner right about now.

The king rose from his throne, and for a second Amelia thought he was finally going to address her He stood there, glowering in silence, and after an embarrassingly long pause there was a loud crack like thunder directly overhead.

Suddenly everyone was yelling very loudly and rushing away, as if parted by a wave. The air was thick with drywall dust. The king himself was still by his throne with a look of irritation. Amelia tried to turn away, but her body was frozen. Her feet were suddenly encased in thick ice atop the equal-armed cross on the carpet. Equal-armed cross? Wait a second…

The entire ceiling was rent by an enormous split spanning its length and was threatened to collapse inwards. Several of Seyruun's diplomats rushed forward to help her, but she could tell they wouldn't make it in time.

"Oh no! Look out!"

"Windy Shield!" someone shouted, just as the chandelier came crashing down.

xOxOxO

Zelgadis had lost track of his own day before it had even started. He'd meant to see Amelia off in the morning, but as soon as he'd heard the cries of "so lovely" and "avenging angel" his fight-or-flight instincts kicked .in. This way lies danger, his brain had warned, and not the fun kind he could defeat with sophisticated sword moves, so he'd left. Anyway, he had work to do.

He proceeded through the long, winding halls, into the kitchen, past the pantry, and finally into the meat locker where Seyruun's most elite protectors were shivering around a butcher block and slabs of salmon. There were two knights (Hans and Franz, older and cranky) and the fishmonger (Eogre, missing half an eyebrow, nearly as wide as he was tall). They were all in Phil's special employ and charged with protecting the royal household by any means necessary, usually sneaky ones.

Zelgadis emptied the contents of his satchel on the butcher block. The little vials clinked up against each other. "I obtained forty-six samples, eight of which were present in both the kitchen and individual rooms. If there is poison it could be coming from a tea or spice vendor, or it's being blended in the kitchen."

Eogre picked up a sample of small white powder and squinted at it. "This looks like cream of tartar. Anyway, what do we do now?"

"I guess," Hans said, like he was seriously evaluating each and every life decision that had led up to this moment, "we go get forty-six rats."

"Rats?"

"Unless we're gonna sit here and cast Dicleary forty-six times and hope nobody goes blind or dies first."

It was a horrible idea, but nobody had a better one, and so Zelgadis set off to refill his beloved heavy-duty traveling satchel with live rats. He started by lurking in the back alleyways behind restaurants, only to learn that Calliope was quite serious about proper food hygiene. After a fruitless hour he went in search of some waste. Being an island, there wasn't much beyond a glorified gravity sewer, with tunnels and ladders just wide enough to support one person and coat them with filth in the process.

Zelgadis juggled casting Lighting (to see the rats) and Chaos String (to snag the rats) and swinging his bag around (to knock out the rats), all with barely enough space to move his arms and legs at once. Worse yet, the rats ran from the light, so he could only cast the spell for as long as it took for the rats to approach. Lighting! Chaos String! Thunk. Lighting! Chaos String! Thunk, all amidst a steady spray of waste. Knighthood: glamorous work.

It was already a bad day and all signs pointed to it getting worse, so he was as surprised to find a locked iron hatch on one side of the tunnel. Once he'd tried a few taps to be sure there was no water behind it, Zelgadis cast a Dam Brass and jumped through. The hatch led to an ascending staircase carved into rock, which he gladly followed up and away from the sewers. At some point, even certain doom was preferable.

But there was no doom at the top of the staircase, just an echoing cavern lit by sparse torchlight. He heard a set of extremely familiar footsteps, one strong and unconcerned and one light yet confident; he could've picked them out of a stampede. As he came closer he saw Lina and Gourry, reeking of sewage and following after a Lighting spell. Gourry glanced over his shoulder and waved.

"What brings you down here?" Zelgadis asked.

"Going after the cult that took our money," Lina said. She wouldn't so much as stand up if she found it inconvenient, but she'd rearrange the stars for petty revenge.

"Money here is a mess anyhow. Why not just stock up on cash?"

"I can do both!" She showed off two bags stuffed with gold coins on either side of her cloak. "What about you? Where's Amelia?"

Zelgadis spotted a rat scampering away and flicked out another Chaos String before lassoing it into his bag. "Princess business."

"You're...collecting rats," Lina observed, sounding disgusted yet somehow unsurprised.

"And no one," Zelgadis swung the satchel into the wall and ignored a few protesting squeaks, "is going to say another word about it."

The three set off together and talked over what little they knew. They were probably in a mountainside somewhere just outside town, likely in passages created by and for the local sorcerer's guild, which in turn was almost certainly behind whatever nefarious deeds that had created Calliope's sudden fortune-and, Lina pointed out, something that involved recruiting other sorcerers.

As they puzzled it out, tossing theories around and considering possibilities, Zelgadis remembered why he'd spent so many years with Lina in the first place. He missed her. He missed her clear-mindedness, the way she skewered bad ideas like squid kebabs, and how she could always see through a ruse.

When they first met Zelgadis had been completely taken by the girl who'd been so powerful and fearless, so ambivalent to his hideous appearance, so crass yet undeniably charming. He had thought he might even be falling for her, but he'd never had the chance. Even back then Lina and Gourry were as inseparable and naturally belonging as butter on toast. Moreover, he'd soon learned just how grating and greedy (in every sense of the word) she could be, and that had killed it dead.

But I do miss Lina, he thought, specifically, the version she is with Gourry. Still mean and crude, still cheap and gluttonous, but all a little less so and fifteen percent less likely to ruin your life.

Zelgadis was reflecting on this when he was interrupted by two figures from further down the hall. Both wore the dark purple robes of Calliope's sorcerers, and both clutched long battle staves designed for magical range combat.

"Who are you?" one barked. "What are you doing down here?"

"Can't some folks go for a walk?" Lina asked.

"Okay, but what is he doing?" asked the other sorcerer, pointing to Zelgadis's peculiarly noisy bag.

"Good question. Zel, what-"

"Never mind!"

"Flare Bit!" the first sorcerer yelled, uninterested in the rats. What followed was a quick volley of shamanistic magic that lasted until Lina's irritation got the better of her and she let out a Dill Brand, collapsing the cavern ceiling. That was another advantage to being with Lina: you never lost a fight. Sure, you might lose everything else in the process, but at least you were on the winning side.

Their would-be assailants were carrying a complicated set of slide keys and a handful of pamphlets, all of which Lina scooped up. She seemed primarily disappointed that neither of them had even a few cents of spare change.

"They weren't very powerful sorcerers," Gourry said.

"They weren't trying to kill us," she sighed. "They probably wanted us for whatever stupid plan they have going on down here."

Beyond the rock fall was another winding cavern, again leading upwards and around to a new surface, this time made of brick. The three of them walked with their battle-senses at the ready, anticipating more goons, but after several minutes it was clear no one was coming to pursue. After a while they reached a four-way fork, with each path proceeding towards an identical door.

Before anyone could make suggestions or get into a needlessly heated argument about which direction to pursue, there was a low rumbling sound and the whole structure shook at its foundations. From somewhere above came the earsplitting reverberation of pots and plans clattering to the ground. Someone let out a string of curse words that could have woken lesser demons.

"That's our cue to leave," Zelgadis said.

Lina, none too keen on being buried alive, agreed. "Pick a door, any door? I vote none of the above! Dam Brass!"

She blasted a wall open beside one of the doors and they were back in the streets of Calliope's main square, in the relentless island sunlight, just outside a large baroque building detailed with decorative moulding and cherub sculptures. The adjacent door, still intact, waited patiently for polite, non-destructive visitors under a sign that said Service Entrance Only.

Gourry just shrugged and said "that works, too," and took off with a whistle.

In the town square, the people of Calliope had become more or less inured to explosions, and even a likely earthquake merited more curiosity than concern. Locals just got back to business while the newer tourists ran for safety. A small crowd had gathered around a tableau-like scene of a beautiful young woman, hands folded in desperate prayer, kneeling beside a large marble statue of Abundantia. It was a dramatic and remarkable scene, made all the more remarkable because they recognized the beautiful young woman there.

"Sylphiel!"

She heard her name and raced to them. "Gourry-sama!" she exclaimed, gripping his hands tenderly. "Lina-san, Zelgadis-san...are you okay? That earthquake, was that you? I was so afraid!"

"It wasn't, actually," Lina said, as perplexed as anyone that this was the case. "Say, what are you doing here?"

"I heard about the festival of Abundantia." She smiled shyly. "I was hoping to find some other priestesses and maybe a little bit of money for the white magic academy we're building in Sairaag. Are you all traveling together?"

"No, we're...anyhow, Amelia's here doing princess things, so Zel came along too."

"Ah, yes, Zelgadis-san and, ah…"

"And a bag of rats," Lina finished. "You know, he still hasn't told us what that's about."

Zelgadis took this opportunity to leave and learn more about the source of the noise. But even the perpetually cheery crowds in Calliope were inclined to avoid a chimera covered in human filth and holding a bag of rats over his shoulder like some kind of angst-ridden sewer Krampus. So he did what he did best: crept along the walls, stayed out of sight, and eavesdropped.

Most witnesses had run away without turning back, giving them nothing significant to report. The general suspicion was a partial building collapse rather than any natural or magical circumstance. The best information came from a younger man around Zelgadis's age, wearing a backwards sun hat and a shirt that was too tight in that strange anti-style only possible for good-looking people who will be good-looking no matter what they wear. He seemed friendly, kindhearted, and about two beers in to his afternoon. Zelgadis hated him at once.

"Yeah, it came from near the castle," the young man said as he passed a bistro facing the street. "Don't worry, it's not any of the bars." This was enough for most of the crowds, which returned to their happy cavorting. "I think it was at parliament, actually. Nobody's running around or panicking so it must not be that bad."

But somebody who had just remembered what was happening in parliament and who was there that day suddenly took off, running and panicking all the while.

xOxOxO

Amelia had just changed back into her traveling tunic and was relaxing with three maids when the door to her bedroom suite burst inwards and flew off its hinges. It broke down into three uneven pieces and a spray of splinters.

"Amelia!"

Amelia looked up from her much-needed mug of tea. Zelgadis stood in the doorway, panting and angry. He looked like he'd appreciate the chance to kick another door or five.

"Oh, Zelgadis-san," she said, and although she was happy to see him he evoked several other emotions at that moment: disappointment that he'd missed her truly once-in-a-lifetime warrior queen costume, annoyance that he hadn't been there that morning when she left, mild relief that she'd missed whatever escapade had him smelling like a barnyard outhouse on the hottest day of the year.

"Are you alright?! What happened?" he asked, his questions like flung darts.

"I'm just fine," she said, and tilted her head meaningfully. "It was just an accident. I was thinking of going for a walk around town for a late lunch. Would you like to come with me? After a chance to freshen up, of course," she added, meaningfully again but this time with a different type of meaning. Zelgadis, a master of subtext, took both hints.

They took the opportunity to explore Calliope's business district, taking a somewhat slower pace to accommodate her pained and twitching legs. Once they were well outside the estate and the potential for listening ears she felt more comfortable sharing what had happened.

"Something broke around the ceiling, and I got Freeze Arrowed...frozen? Is it Frozen Arrow? That doesn't sound right, but neither does Freeze Arrowed."

"Focus."

"Anyway, somebody cast the spell while everyone else was yelling and running away. But I don't think they were trying to hurt me. I think they were just trying to...get me out of the way somehow, or maybe make a big show of rescuing me in front of everyone." Amelia glowered. She hated being treated like a prop.

"Freeze Arrow," Zelgadis repeated, without resolving the all-important question of the proper past tense. "Sounds like they did their research. They must have known Shadow Snap wouldn't be enough to stop you. Were there any other signs of a trap?"

"No," Amelia said a little too quickly. "It was fine anyhow, I wasn't in any danger. All those soldiers were there to protect me."

"Good. Phil must have learned his lesson after your trip to Zoana."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"And while we're at it," Zelgadis said, "don't drink any tea while you're at the estate."

"But why? Everything is prepared by our staff."

"I know, but just be careful. Stick to water if you can."

Amelia was still a little hurt after what she felt was an extremely unfair jab at her pride for no reason, but his voice was serious in a way she knew not to contest. Before they could reach the main strip of Calliope's bustling restaurants, she took an abrupt detour down a quieter alley.

"There are fireworks in the garden tonight, an hour after sunset. It might be nice-maybe if you have some time…" She let it go, like someone launching a half-finished kite and hoping for the best.

"You know the king of Calliope has it out for you and you still want to watch the fireworks?"

"Zelgadis-san!" she said, dismayed. "Fireworks are always special, even if the people putting them on are terrible villains who must be defeated! And anyway, we're still staying on their property. We may as well enjoy it."

He folded his arms and turned his head, as he often did when he bluntly swatted down her tiny overtures, so she didn't at all expect him to say "I guess."

Those were big words coming from him. Amelia knew how much he hated even the idea of being boxed into a decision, no matter how small; he was committed to being non-committal. Zelgadis rarely said yes outright to anything that wasn't a Claire Bible or a cup of coffee. Or Lina-san. But everybody says yes to Lina-san, including me. "Right," she said, deploying a tone of detached neutrality at odds with the smile threatening to take over her entire face.

They followed the standard clues that indicated Lina and Gourry were eating in the vicinity (gruesome mastication, a sharp clanging of forks and knives like epees, cooks quitting in disgust and swearing to pursue their passions in fine art) to find them both and a slightly distressed Sylphiel around a dining table piled high with more raw fish than the surrounding ocean.

"Oh, Amelia-san!" Sylphiel said, and they embraced. She seemed grateful for company that could eat without nauseating the people around them. "Amelia-san, you look so tired and pale! Are you sure you're well? Were you hurt this morning?"

"I'm fine, I really am!" She was touched as always by Sylphiel's compassion. Lina and the others didn't offer a lot in the way of maternal comforts, and Amelia appreciated them more than most. "Sylphiel-san, don't tell me you're getting caught up in all the trouble Lina-san is causing!"

"W-well…"

The three of them took the seats furthest from the splash zone. Sylphiel retold what she had heard about the events of the day, with Gourry and Lina occasionally offering details between fights over fish roe. The local sorcerer's guild was apparently up to something worse than just stealing Lina's savings, not that Lina would have believed something worse was possible.

Secret tunnels, vintage keys, and suspicious plots were all a lot more interesting than allegations of institutional money laundering and a near-miss with a ceiling. Amelia asked to take a look at the papers they'd taken, mostly to feel like she'd been part of the adventure too, but discovered she had something to contribute.

"I know some of these names," she declared, pointing to a few names on what appeared to be a roster. "Look, that's the finance minister. And that's the head of the office for taxation and revenue...do you think they're being targeted by the king's sorcerers?"

"Or they're participants," Zelgadis proposed. "Calthorn mentioned the sorcerers work directly for the king. If it goes all the way up to the king, it makes sense that the most powerful politicians would be in on it too."

Amelia cringed. Currency manipulation was bad enough, but currency manipulation involving the local sorcerer's guild was another thing altogether. The power of the guilds was more political than magical, and thanks to strong sectoral bargaining they'd codified powerful institutional protections into the law. Opposing them would involve a lot of paperwork. Although she asked a waiter for herbal tea, they brought her a toddy instead. She decided she'd earned it.

"But the money stuff has nothing to do with what happened to Amelia," Gourry said, piling kinilaw onto a kaiser roll. "Right? Or is that about something else?"

The end of one enormous platter of nigiri gave Lina a chance to weigh in. "I doubt they're unconnected, but it could be as simple as them wanting to stop her before she exposes it all. Or maybe they were hoping they could net another payday by rescuing her from certain death in front of lots of important witnesses and Phil would be so grateful he'd give them a huge reward."

"I don't think it's the second one," Amelia said, distinctly unnerved with how much thought Lina had put into it. "If I had been injured or just knocked unconscious, maybe they would have canceled the summit, or tried to trade me for calling off the investigation, or some other type of unspeakable corruption!"

"But they're still having a big party tonight in your honor, right? One of the papers we found looks like a map. I say we go back tonight while everyone else is distracted and try to figure out what's up with those keys."

"I dunno…" Gourry said reluctantly. "I heard there's gonna be a concert, and fireworks too. Don't you wanna go see?"

Lina blew a raspberry and gave an emphatic thumbs-down. "No way. Fireworks just make dumb people want to kiss. Besides, why would I watch somebody else's explosions?"

"Well, I don't think they're so bad, and we haven't had a break in forever." Gourry turned to Amelia, who was preparing to crawl under the table and die, and he gave her a friendly nudge. She was so startled she spilled hot tea down the front of her shirt. "Oops, sorry! Just meant to say that I think your party sounds fun. I hope we get to go."

"I like fireworks because they're romantic," Sylphiel demurred in a way that was appreciated by no one. Lina muttered something snarky into her wine and waited a full two seconds before diving back into her meal.

Someone else might have made a face or looked a certain way, but Amelia couldn't see. She felt as though she'd been Freeze Arrow(ed?) again, physically unable to tear her eyes from her toddy. The liquor in it was either too strong or not strong enough.

Lina-san, how could you?! There were plenty of other reasons to watch fireworks with somebody, which Amelia was certain she could think of if given enough time, and it's not like it was anyone else's business what fantasies might have floated through her head while a committee of old men yelled at her about devaluation. She kept staring into her toddy. The sight reminded her she was an adult and didn't have to be embarrassed by these things.

Amelia peeked to her side where Zelgadis's indifferent sips of coffee were undermined by a furious blush and a mug that was empty. It wasn't clear what to conclude other than they were both mortified and it was all Lina's fault. So much for being an adult. She felt like a teenage girl all over again, complete with Lina stomping on her dreams-one of my best friends in the whole world, Amelia reminded herself, with effort. Now all she needed was to be kicked in the face at night and she'd have the full experience.

The meal ended with an agreement that Lina, Gourry, and Sylphiel would check out the strange things happening underground, to be joined by Zelgadis if he wasn't busy with his other work. Amelia would help the cause by sitting at a party, only drinking water and trying not to get hit by falling objects. Nobody seemed happy with this outcome, least of all Amelia, who would have crawled through ten sewers rather than stand around while her friends got to be smelly heroes of justice. But she had a job to do, values to uphold, and a whole country relying on her to do the right thing and expose terrible crimes...which was fine. She just wished it could have involved more fighting and less being alone.

Later that night, surrounded by fawning courtiers and diplomats telling the harrowing story of her dashing rescue ("rescue"! From a broken ceiling? No one in the service would know a real adventure if it chased them around in a dragon-boat), Amelia felt even more lonely than usual. Something about seeing her friends again had reminded her just how much they brought to her life, for better or worse, and how dull everything could be without them. Tonight she didn't even have the comfort of knowing Zelgadis was somewhere in a nearby corner, where he could communicate both friendly support and stinging commentary just with his eyebrows.

Maybe it was for the best that he hadn't shown up. Amelia was too irritable to make pleasant company anymore, and she excused herself to bed as soon as she could politely do so. She was ready to put the entire terrible day behind her and drop the whole fireworks non-event in the pile of flitting hopes and false starts, never to be acknowledged ever again. Oh well. The fireworks weren't even that good, she thought, mostly to console herself.

As Amelia laid her head on the pillow, she began to wonder if she was cracking under the stress. Her stomach ached, her skin itched, and she couldn't concentrate. Oddest of all, somewhere far away she thought she could hear the squeaking of rats.

xOxOxO