I know that a few of you are still confused, but I hope that after this chapter most questions will be answered. Also, this chapter is dedicated to Liz and her inquisitiveness. Enjoy!

The young girl sitting at the back table of the Hearty Hart was probably not supposed to have imbibed alcohol. However, if the various empty cups around her elbows were any indication, Irina had chosen to ignore the girl's age and let her indulge. She had likely surpassed her limit two drinks ago, and her violet eyes were starting to become unfocused. Even her hand gestures had lost whatever grace they might have once possessed.

"Irina!" Despite her delicate appearance, she sure had a screechy voice. "Can I have another?" Her uncoordinated hand was shaking an almost empty glass over her head. "Please?"

The stuff she was forcing herself to drink was unbelievably bitter, but none of it could hold a candle to the bitterness welling up inside of her. An angry, beady-eyed monster was growing in the pit of her stomach, and, as every drink failed to make it disappear, Eleni could only go over the humiliating argument she had endured before being sent off.

It wasn't even evening yet, but the girl had already had more to drink in a few hours than most veterans could down in a week. Irina, the buxom barmaid of the Hearty Hart, was starting to become worried.

"Do you think tha-"

"That you're an idiot for letting her drink?" her companion, Avery, interrupted? "Yes, you are." The raven-haired woman ignored her friend's sputtering and went to attempt some damage control.

Eleni Crow, once a guest of the inn under the name Myles of Pirate's Swoop, had been sent down to the city for the summer by her grandfather. George hadn't offered his people too many details, but they were spies and information was not easily kept from them. That the girl was here as a girl, and not in her male disguise, said enough to have the staff guessing. The plans of a certain violet-eyed redhead had failed.

Setting a large glass of arak in front of the girl, Avery regarded her critically. She knew some of the details, but talking was always good for the soul. "You wanna tell me about it?" There was no point being obscure, and with her level of inebriation Eleni wouldn't understand vague approaches.

"Sure!" Eleni's voice was a little too loud in the almost empty room. "Grandfather sent me down here, you know that."

Avery wasn't deterred. The girl wasn't suffering from a loose tongue, and it made Avery proud to see that the girl could hold her own when it came to liquor. "Is there a reason he sent you down here in a dress?"

Eleni let out a derisive chuckle. "You probably already know, Avery, stop asking." She was a little confused when her glass moved away from her hand. Either she was losing it or – Avery. "Give me back my drink, sir."

Avery didn't take offense to the little slight; Eleni was upset and didn't know how to handle something of this magnitude. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't just say that, girl." She wasn't ashamed of her lifestyle choices, but Eleni was poking at a sore spot. "Now," she said, sympathetically handing over the glass of arak. "Tell me everything." If Eleni chose to not cooperate, Avery had plenty of other ways of simply taking the information, and she wasn't too gracious to not use these methods.

Taking the veiled threat in Avery's voice as a hint, Eleni decided that she might as well tell her what had happened. It was sure to be a trying three months at the Hearty Hart if she avoided the conversation.

Before opening her mouth, Eleni took the time to collect her thoughts. She probably should have done the same thing two years ago, but there was little point repenting over her past choices. Choices had been made and events had happened. It was the way of the world, and there was no way to change the past.

The day she'd woken up in the palace infirmary, Eleni had had plenty of questions to ask, few of which were actually answered. Her first questions were about Pier and Alex; what had happened to them, how were all three of them to be punished for missing the examination?

That simple inquiry had been answered with silence. Varrick, already upset by the whole situation, had left the infirmary, Warren following right behind him. Kyle, clinging to Schuylar's arm in distress had turned whiter than Eleni's bedsheets. They'd lost another page to the Black God. Artan's death the summer before had been horrifying enough, but another dead page so soon after was harrowing. Alex had been found with Eleni and Muiko of Queenscove when the King's Own had shown up, and Kyle was eventually found by a stablehand.

Things only got worse from there. Eleni remembered some of what had happened in the clearing, the immortals and the corpses surrounding them. The Own had appeared in time to rescue the two pages and the young courtiers, but there was nothing that could be done about the bloodbath that had occurred.

The Crown Prince, his wife, their children, and a score of other nobles had left the palace that morning for a picnic in the Royal Forest. Only the Crown Prince's son and Muiko of Queenscove had returned alive.

After that, Eleni was forced to endure an inquisition of sorts. Alanna had argued that it was completely unnecessary, but as the Council of Lords had thrown a fit over the immortal attack on the palace. As a witness to an attack on the royal family and other nobles, Eleni was forced to give an account of what had happened.

They made her relive the moment, and then they swarmed around her like vultures.

Getting an account of the tauros attack had been a front. The Council had really been looking for a way to openly judge her actions as a page. Lord Padraig had been called in as a reference to her character, and everything began to unravel. Eventually, after much debating and a few open threats, it was decided that Eleni would be allowed to remain for training.

Eleni's friends had all left for their own home fiefs early in June. Many of the lords had been called to Corus for a possible war conference and Lord Padraig was among them. The regular summer trip had been cancelled, not that many of the pages were complaining. After everything that had happened, everyone was looking forward to being comforted by home.

The Copper Islands were definitely not as appealing as Corus at the moment, and Eleni had chosen to stay in the city. That her exile was self-imposed did not mean that she was enjoying it. There were too many things for her to mull over and too much time to give in to guilt.

It took Eleni a few moments to realize that Avery was still waiting for a response, patient and understanding as always. Irina had sauntered over at some point and, without Eleni noticing, had pulled the small girl into a hug.

The men who visited the Hart certainly weren't lying; Irina's presence could be quite comforting. "You can tell us when you feel like it, darling." She wasn't about to force the answers out of Eleni. Not now, anyway. "Finish your drink, and then go up for a nap."

Though they sounded like suggestions, the not-too-light pressure on Eleni's arm told her that it was best for everyone involved if she went up for a nap. Maybe it was for the best.

Avery, still eager to hear what Eleni had to say, was not pleased with Irina, but had to admit that Eleni needed to sleep off the alcohol. The summer would be long enough for stories. For now, all they could do was look after Eleni for George and hope that she'd recover soon.

Nightfall came and Eleni was still asleep on her bed. Irina and Avery had argued over whether to wake her or not, but the final word came from James.

"The lass will need some proper food in her stomach or it'll only get worse." James got the both of them to stop bickering long enough to listen to reason. "And before you all start going at it again," he said without looking at them. "Irina will be the one to bring her down to supper."

Eleni didn't fight the pretty blonde when she was dragged out of bed and into a clean dress. Common sense told her that food would help her pounding head, and Irina was only trying to lead her downstairs to eat. And Eleni couldn't really trust her feet at the moment; almost walking into someone else's room had proven that already.

It wasn't her dinner companion let out a long whistle that Eleni got a good look at him; Merle Brown, a trainee in the Provost's Guard was sitting across from her. From the look in his eye, at least one person would appreciate her change of clothing.

"I take it that some things have changed since we last met, my blossom?" The tone was a possible attempt at seduction, and on a face as adorable as Merle's it might have worked with any other girl. Few women would contradict that he had the warmest pair of brown eyes and an easy smile, but it wasn't always enough.

Merle might have though himself a suave ladies' man, but Eleni intended to prove him wrong. She didn't need a man any more than she needed a boat in the desert. If nothing else, she'd enjoy denying his advances this summer.

So wrapped up in her mild hangover and plans of teasing Merle, Eleni didn't notice Avery come up and hit Irina.

"What did you do that for, doxie?" she hissed at the blonde.

Irina only grinned at her friend and went to the bar to retrieve a couple of drinks. Soon enough, Eleni would be feeling right as rain. As was Irina's personal motto, a man was all a woman needed to have her spirits lifted.

All it would take was a few drinks, and a way of keeping Avery from meddling.

Did we enjoy this? I apologize for the underage drinking, but there aren't any actual laws about that in Tortall. Are we glad that Merle is back? It's how I'm apologizing for the lack of Alex.