"Here, what do you think of this one?" Othen pulled out a small wind instrument and held it to his lips, pressing his fingers over small holes and playing a quick tune. They had toured the music hall previously, but there was too much to cover. So this morning he knocked on her door and asked if he could play some instruments for her.

"Oh, it's lovely, my lord."

"That means it's not your favorite." Othen chuckled.

"I said no such thing, my lord!" Biechta said in horror. "I do not wish to offend you, it is a lovely instrument."

"Relax, relax. It is of no offense. I genuinely want to know what you like, Lady Biechta. I appreciate music and instruments of all kinds but of course I have some that are favorites and some that I find less favorable. It is only natural."

"Oh..." she whispered.

"We've only tried wind instruments so far, how about we move on to something else?"

"As you wish, my lord."

"Lady Biechta, please." He drew in a breath and rubbed his forehead before dropping his hand. "You are a person. You have opinions. You have preferences. You have likes and dislikes. There is no shame in expressing yourself. You are free to do so in my presence, I promise you."

She looked down and away. A trait he was quickly learning meant she was embarrassed and she wasn't sure what to do or say.

"How about this? When you heard the maids playing music and you liked it, what did it sound like?"

"I'm not really sure how to describe it." She said softly.

"Were they singing? Humming? Was it a recording they were playing?"

"I did enjoy the singing and humming by the maids, yes. But I was more fascinated by the recordings."

"Ok, and there were instruments in the recordings?"

"Yes, there usually was one or two people singing and it sounded like..." her eyes scrunched together and she closed her eyes in thought. "I don't know what it sounded like."

"Hmm" Othen stopped in thought. "Nothing like the wind instruments, I take it?"

She shook her head no.

"Ok, let's head to strings!" He said with enthusiasm..

"Ok, my lord."

He pulled down a medium sized instrument and sat on a chair with it laying on his lap. "I'll have to tune it first." He fiddled with the knobs.

"What exactly are you doing to it, my lord?"

He hid the smile that wanted to burst from his lips that she spoke without being questioned first.

"The thickness and tightness of the strings both affect how they sound. Over time, the strings stretch and loosen and the pitch of the string lowers. He strummed a string and let it resonate throughout the room."

She nodded.

"It can sound okay on its own, but to play the strings together they need to be tuned correctly so they flow smoothly. Or else the sound isn't very pleasant."

"I see."

"So..." he continued as he kept plucking strings with one hand and twisting the tuning pegs with the other. "I'm twisting the pegs so they will tighten the strings to where they need to go.

Once finished he strummed each string one by one until the sounds were resonating all together.

"I..."

"Yes?"

"I think I like these types of sounds."

"Wonderful. Do you remember if the tunes were slow, like this... Or fast and upbeat like this... Or do you think you have a preference for one over the other at this moment?"

"They had different ones. But there was a really slow one that I always enjoyed, listening to when they played it."

Over the next half hour he played a couple other stringed instruments, so she could hear a variety of sounds and she reveled in the experience.

"Do you think it had an instrument like these in it?"

She shook her head. "I don't know...? Maybe some of them. But not the one I'm remembering. The one that I really liked."

"We will figure it out, don't worry."

"I've already taken up so much of your time, my Lord. I couldn't possibly ask for you to spend more time on this."

"Don't worry about it, I'm actually having a really great time. It's not every day that I get to introduce instruments to someone. I enjoy sharing the things I love with people."

"Oh."

"Unless you are not having a good time? We can do something else. Or I can escort you back to your room if you would like to rest?"

"No!" She grabbed his forearm but then immediately withdrew it. "I apologize my Lord."

He chuckled. "It's OK. So you would like to continue on? We can move on to percussion instruments."

"Yes, please, I would love to see them, My Lord."

"Please, just call me Othen."

"Here we are, percussion instruments. I'm going to guess what you were remembering didn't have anything to do with drums. He said as he banged his hand a few times on one nearby."

"No". She said, as she slightly chuckled.

He smiled just slightly in return. "Here, let's try this one. It's not exactly my area of expertise, but I can do enough to get by." He said as he played a childhood melody.

"This one is very interesting."

"Yeah?"

"How does it work?"

"These tubes are hollow and when you tap them, it causes vibrations within that produce the sound. The different sizes of the tubes are what creates the different note or sounds, some deep and some high."

"Oh, how inventive!"

"Yes, it is! See, a lot of people don't realize how much there is to creating all of these. But it actually requires a lot of skill and a lot of ingenuity."

"I can imagine. It's so fascinating!" She said with a slight smile on her face.

"I'm glad you are enjoying it. Ah, here we go." He said as he walked over to the Qarthan version of a grand piano. "This is one of my favorite instruments."

"It's beautiful."

His fingers thrummed across the keys gently as a soft tune began to play. They both watched his hands as they moved back and forth in harmony with one another. The song began to build in volume as the song peaked and he found himself humming along to the melody. Eventually he softened his fingers on the keys once more and the tune trickled to a soft ending.

"What did you think of-" his words were cut off when he saw the emotion on her face. He stood abruptly and dipped his head to look more closely at Biechta, who was sniffling back tears. "Are you ok?"

With his question and the concern in his eyes she put her face in her hands, shaking it as she fought her tears.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Greetings Rahn, what news do you have." Kahal nodded to her as she entered his large study.

"Greetings my lord." she nodded in return.

"First, I wish to speak with you about our current meeting arrangements."

"Oh?"

"Yes. What I've seen so far has me concerned. I feel we should alter our arrangements to better protect this operation from detection."

"You feel you're at risk when you come here to meet me."

She nodded. She appreciated that she didn't have to spell everything out for him. "These people are methodical. They're well trained. And the two I've met so far are extremely loyal. Either from duty or fear, I haven't discovered yet, but the fact still remains. With this type of organization, I worry they may have larger numbers than we previously suspected and I worry they may have more eyes within the grand hall than we feared. It would be prudent of us to alter our arrangements to allow for these."

"What do you have in mind?"

"The original plan was if anyone questioned my comings and goings, for me to say I was occasionally visiting my partner who broke up with me after the incident to try and patch things up. A partner who lives and works within the grand hall. But that was when we thought they didn't have anyone inside the grand hall, when we thought that's why they needed Zein's men. But if it turns out they could have eyes anywhere, then..."

"They could easily discover you've been coming to my study each time you return."

"Yes, and it'd be pretty obvious you weren't my partner."

"Obviously." He took a sip of the water glass on his desk. "Since the plan was to claim Thuq, my administrator, as your partner, if you were ever pressed on who your partner was, we'll have to bring him in a bit more. We'll hold our meetings in his personal dwelling."

"That would suffice."

"You don't trust him."

"I don't know him."

"I trust him."

"I decide who I choose to trust for myself, not based on what others tell me."

"So I gathered. But you have no choice in this matter. I've chosen who I've brought into this assignment and you'll have to work with that."

"Yes, of course, my lord."

"Forego the formalities. Your tone and words may have been respectful but I know you meant that as a slight."

She opened her mouth to whip back but thought better of it and closed her mouth abruptly. "I apologize."

"Now that one, you meant. Partially." He almost smiled. "I'll fill Thuq in on the bare minimum he needs to know. But for now, I want you to bring me up to date on all that's happened since we last met."

Rahn spent the better part of an hour going through everything that had transpired, with Kahal occasionally asking questions for clarification.

"I agree, this is most unusual. It's concerning." He sat and rubbed his chin as he looked out the window before standing to slowly pace the room. "They didn't just let you go like that by accident."

"I agree."

"You were right to want to tighten up our plans. They've likely been watching you very closely. I will have Thuq escort you out when you leave, purposely going on a walk that will make the two of you visible to others."

She sighed. "Probably not a bad idea."

"It's a great idea." He said as he sat on the front of his desk, his hands holding either side next to his thighs.

"If you say so, I must agree, my lord." She chuckled and he stifled a smile.

"Make sure you act like old partners from the moment you leave privacy."

"Of course."

"That means you can't look at him like you don't trust him, Rahn."

She crossed her arms and glared. Of course she knew that. Suddenly, an idea popped into her mind and she acted before she could think better of it. She stood and tilted up the corners of her mouth into a smirk as she lowered her head slightly and looked up at him. She took the short steps to lean on the desk beside him, placing her left arm around his right and laying her head on his shoulder while looking up into his eyes. He stared at her with an impassive face as she looked up at him lovingly. She made sure her voice came out sultry but sweet. "Like this?" She said as she stroked his forearm with her free hand.

His eyes slowly trailed down from her face to each part of where their skin was touching.

"You know...." She said in the same voice. Soft but confident. "I am not entirely inept, my lord." Her hand moved up from his arm to cup his cheek as she stared into his eyes. "That is why you chose me, is it not?"

She patted his cheek, likely a bit too roughly, and swiftly removed herself from him, taking several steps toward the door before turning to face him again. Her facial features now impassive.

"That was either very brave or very foolish."

"Sometimes I act on impulse." She shrugged. "Occasionally it doesn't work out but most of the time it leads me in the right direction."

He simply stared at her.

"Would you like to tell me when to report back or shall I wait on your lapdog?" She asked as she crossed her arms again. "You know, I really do need a way to send messages to you if there's urgent news. Without having to wait on these meetings or for Dom to just show up whenever he pleases."

"Dom?"

"He never told me a name so I chose one for him.

"And he knows about this?"

"Yep. I don't suppose you'd like to enlighten me?"

He shrugged. "If he let you call him Dom, I see no reason to interfere."

"Of course not. "

"And how has it been going with you two? Working well together?"

"There hasn't been much work happening between us." She scoffed. When he was silent she looked back at him to see him watching her with a brow raised at her in question. Oh that sounded like... oops. She wasn't sure why, but instead of clarifying, she offered him a smirk.

"I know you prefer to do this type of work alone, but he can be of help when you need it."

She folded her arms around her. "And again, how am I supposed to ask for such help if I can't contact him? He just shows up."

"I would think that's something for the two of you to figure out." He said as he walked around his desk and sat behind it. "As far as being able to send me messages directly should something urgent come up, the only solution would be to send coded messages to Thuq. You'd have to make them sound like messages to your partner, should they get intercepted."

"Understood."