"What do you want to do when you finish being a Coin Guard?"

Kurt laughed between pants, "I'm only 30! And Coin Guards usually die before we get to retire… It's why the pension is so good – no one ever gets it."

De Sardet was bent double too, catching her breath.

The day was warm, and though the courtyard was shaded, there was no place for a breeze to sneak through the heavy stonework and shift the stagnant air. De Sardet stood and pried the armour off her torso, tugging at the calico shirt beneath to unstick it from her body.

"You done already, Greenblood?" Kurt's tone was teasing, but he removed his own plate too.

"You haven't answered my question."

Kurt shrugged, "It's not something I've ever given much thought. Like I said, we mostly die before we stop working. Why'd you ask?"

De Sardet crossed the little yard they'd been using as a training ground since the Captain of the guard had demanded her lessons take place with 'more discretion'. She opened the door and leaned into the building, hanging from the frame. Stretching out her fingers, she managed to tug a heavy silk cord towards her, pull it, and drop it in a fluid movement. No longer clumsy, Kurt noted with pride.

A servant appeared and disappeared, carrying the call for water from the ice house to be brought up.

No longer clumsy, and no longer awkward when ordering staff around.

He noticed suddenly that De Sardet was frowning at him, "What?"

"Eh?"

"You were looking at me."

"You grew up," Kurt confessed, and tried to temper his amusement when she preened a little at the observation. Not quite, then.

"Is that…good?"

"Oh, probably. But you haven't answered my question. Why ask about my plans for old age?"

She shook her head, "I… I've been offered a job."

Kurt laughed and she rolled her eyes at him, "A Greenblood with a job?"

"Apparently I'm good at being diplomatic. My uncle would like me to train as a legate for the Congregation."

Kurt felt his eyebrows rise – he found himself impressed.

"I can definitely see you being good at that. I thought your uncle already had legates with Thélème and the Bridge Alliance, though - isn't that where you stayed with your mother when you were young?"

"It is, but… " she glanced at the door to make sure that the servant wasn't about to enter before rushing close to him and whispering, "there's an island, Kurt. Each nation has sent a handful of colonisers there. By the time I've trained under our current legate in Thélème, Uncle says there'll be cities and that Constantin and I…"

There was a creak at the door and a servant entered with a tray of water. De Sardet stepped back from Kurt's side and nodded once to dismiss the kitchen girl.

Kurt considered all she'd said as De Sardet, rather soberly crossed to fetch them each some water. The flagon she handed to him was not made of glass, but stoneware – better for keeping the contents cool. Kurt could feel the condensation on the outside of the cup, spiking cold against his fingers. As he swallowed the crisp water, her could track its movement down his gullet and he closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation.

"Am I excellent yet?" De Sardet asked, watching him with a smirk.

"No, but the water is," she rolled her eyes and did just as he had done, tipping back her head to better feel every inch of the icy liquid as it trickled down her throat. Her strange birthmark seemed so very prominent as she did.

"Ask me that question again, Greenblood."

"If I'm excellent?"

"No – we all know you're not."

"All of us do, do we Kurt?" She gestured the empty room and he nodded.

"If I ever grow up enough to stop being a Coin Guard, I think I'd like to be an explorer," he said, nodding at her, "Like you're going to be."

"You should come with me," she said, sitting across from him and raising a cup, "To adventure!"

"To adventure," he said, a slight undertone of melancholy leaking into his words.

"Kurt?"

"Hm?"

"Are you alright?"

"I shall miss you, Greenblood. When you go."

"To Thélème," she said with conviction and he noted with a deep fondness that she was trying to do what her cousin did – to fit another's words to her own designs, "Because you just said yourself – you're coming with me to the island."

"As long as the coin keeps coming, I'll follow you anywhere," he said with more certainty than he felt.

She looked him dead in the eye at that and held his gaze. Then slowly, and carefully, she said, "I'll hold you to that, soldier."

A long moment passed, then she picked up her cup, drained the rest of the water, and left without a backwards glance. Watching her go, Kurt realised he had no idea what she meant.