Getting Luserina to leave her office for tea before an hour that Fuyo considered bedtime proved too difficult, so Fuyo brought tea to Luserina's office, instead. She was in too good a mood to be offended when Alvan made tea for Luserina and completely ignored her.

"Long day?" Fuyo asked, settling in. "I brought tiny cakes. You can pick your favorite as soon as Alvan decides they're safe."

Luserina smiled thinly, then rested her forehead in her hand. "Has it only been a day? We offered Bentwick exile if he told us who hired him, and everything's moved in a blur since then." She took a sip of tea before continuing, "When he saw a boat full of detectives at the dock, he must have thought someone was on to him. I actually feel sorry for him, a bit."

Fuyo cleared her throat. "He did try to kill you. Twice."

"Only a bit, I said." Luserina shifted, sinking a little deeper into her chair. "It was a city council member who hired him, the one who quietly hated my father for decades and would have won the election if so many people hadn't written my name in. He thought—he didn't hate me. Nothing personal, he said. He really thought that killing me was best for Rainwall."

The mood needed lightening, so Fuyo made an effort: "I'm sure the next time someone wants to kill you, it will be personal."

This earned a little huff of a laugh. "I can only hope. It's so clear to me now that I'm doing more harm than good in Rainwall. I've called new elections for the first of the month, and as soon as there's a new mayor, I'm leaving for Sol Falena. I think I can do a lot more good behind the scenes in the central government than I ever can here."

"Sol Falena will be happy to have you, I'm sure." Fuyo smiled encouragingly before adding, "What about Euram?"

Luserina tapped her fingers delicately against her teacup. "It's his choice. If he wants to stay in Rainwall, he should be fine; he doesn't make people nervous the way I do."

They fell quiet a moment, sipping tea companionably. The ambient orange light of the sunset spilled in through the window, around the silhouette of the tree.

"First of the month, right?" said Fuyo. "We've got a client who wants us to solve the case of where her son is seeing that girl she's told him a thousand times not to see, and I'm sure that can keep us busy long enough to give you a ride to Sol Falena."

Luserina's smile was bright and soft and almost not tired. "I'd like that."