"Again?" Kahal groaned as Othen sat a tablet on his desk.

"Unfortunately, yes." Othen said as he plopped down in the chair opposite Kahal's desk in his office. "You know how she gets when she's in her creative streak. And she's saying the opening night of this production will be viewed by more people than any production before it."

"Halan knows I have to approve any edits made to make sure she doesn't leak anything unapproved. I do not have time for her to keep making additions and edits to this production. Tell her this will be that last time. Anything else will be denied."

"Understood." Othen nodded. "In other news, I managed to find the instrument Lady Biechta was trying to describe."

"Oh?" Kahal said as he glanced through the edited pages on the tablet.

"Yes. The way Toth and her parents have deprived her of any sort of life brings an anger to me I never knew I was capable of. Honestly I believe it was even worse than we originally thought."

Kahal looked up. "What happened?"

"You know how she is afraid to speak any sort of opinion or original thought of her own."

Kahal nodded as he leaned back in his chair. "Of course, it is painstakingly dull." He rubbed his temples.

"No, it is sad. There is a Qarthan in there with a mind of her own, after all. She's been conditioned to be that way. It's concerning."

"Yes, we will speak of this to the king and queen at the next meeting. We should look into Toth and how he is ruling his people. But tactfully."

"Good idea."

"So what happened?"

"We went through the music wing and I pulled out various instruments from the different types over the course of an hour or so. But when I started playing the piano she cried. And not just a few gentle tears, the full body shaking sobbing type of cry. A Qarthan woman crying over something so simple?! It reminded me of Ashima and her human emotions!"

"That is highly unusual."

"And sad."

"I wonder what else we can introduce her to while she is here. Broaden her horizons, so to speak."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"You will continue introducing her to all things art related, of course."

He nodded.

"I'll ask Kietnan and Ashima to take her on more excursions outside of the grand hall. They love exploring all of those caves and cliffs and anything interesting outside, really. Joreth would likely only be able to introduce her to what she already knows, economics and all that." He chuckled. "But his wife... perhaps she can get Biechta a small part in the play?"

"I believe that may be pushing her too far. She seems terrified anytime she's simply speaking with us, I can't imagine she would enjoy being on a stage in front of thousands of Qarthan eyes."

"Then perhaps something behind the scenes? She could shadow someone on the wardrobe team, perhaps? We'll run it by Halan, she'll have ideas."

"All good ideas, but perhaps we should start by discussing this with Lady Biechta."

"Yes, I was getting a bit ahead of myself." He pulled a small tablet from his drawer, turning it on and scrolling through his calendar, grimacing. "I don't even know when I'll see her again. Being General on top of all my typical duties has proven time consuming. I don't know how mother expects me to get to know potential partners as well."

"Do you think it's like some say? That when you meet the person you were destined to be with, you feel strongly towards them right away?

Kahal set the tablet down and leaned back in his chair again, thinking. "I don't know. It would certainly make things easier wouldn't it?"

"Did you know some people say that these strong feelings aren't even always good at first? That sometimes people argue a lot or feel the need to get under the persons skin? Like you don't realize why you feel so strongly towards them at first, but then something happens, and you realize that you actually like them... Like that."

"My little brother is a romantic." Kahal chuckled but after thinking for a moment, he added. "It is certainly interesting to think about."

"You've never felt that interested in anyone? What about Lady Biechta? Do you see any type of future with her?"

"She seems like a decent female, intelligent, kind hearted. But she also is so quiet, and does exactly as she's told without thinking for herself. I struggle to see myself with a female that is so timid. Neither as my partner nor as our people's future Queen."

Othen thought for a moment. "Yes, I can see your reasoning. I also do not imagine she would truly want the pressures of being a queen."

Kahal nodded. "She struggled to make decisions for herself, she could hardly be expected to make decisions for other people. Not that she would ever admit it, I'd imagine."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I promised mother I would give Lady Biechta a chance and I have one more meeting with her to fulfill that promise."



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

"I'll take these." Rahn handed the fruit stall vendor his payment.

As he worked on counting the change, he commented. "You're not becoming friends with Butok are you?"

"Who?"

"Butok. I saw the two of you talking the other day."

"Butok?" The man looked as if he was assessing her. She sighed. "I must get back to work."

"Big guy, arrogant."

"Oh... thinks he's a charmer but really he's just a creep?"

The man nodded.

"He just tried to bother me while I was working the other day. I wouldn't say that makes us friends. Why, what's it to you anyway?"

"Just looking out for the new girl in the neighborhood." He shrugged.

She stared at him a moment before nodding. "Thanks, I guess."

"Why was he trying to talk to you anyway, if you two don't know each other?"

"Like I said." She shifted her weight to one leg and put her hand on her hip, "Just a creep looking for a good time." She stuck her hand out, palm up.

He finally reached out and gave her the change owed. "That's it?" He said.

"You were expecting more to happen? Why, who is this guy?." She said as she took a bite of the fruit.

"Like you said. Just a creep." He shrugged and turned to help a male who had walked up looking at vegetables on the other side of his stand.

She turned and finished her fruit as she walked down the street, throwing the pit in the trash as she got back to work.

An hour later she was dumping her full bag into a large dumpster when a familiar voice spoke from behind her.

"You didn't tell anyone."

She glanced up to give him an annoyed look before returning back to what she was doing. "And what is it I'm supposed to tell?" She said as she reached in to get some stubborn trash out of her bag. "It was too bizarre for anyone to believe."

When he didn't respond, and she was finished emptying her bag, she closed the lid on the dumpster and turned to face him. Readjusting the bag onto her shoulder, she asked "What do you want?"

"You don't have questions?"

"Of course I do. But I don't want to go through any more games to get them. It's not worth it."

"You don't think so?"

"Well, it's not like you've given me any information to help me think it is."

"Your own curiosity isn't enough?"

"Listen, Butok, if that's your name...?

He nodded.

"Of course I'm curious, of course I would love to find out if there's actually something to be worth my time but the fact of the matter is, I don't trust you. And all you've proven is that you like to play ridiculous games and waste my time. How do I know you guys would've even let me out of there if I hadn't figured it out on my own?"

He shrugged.

"What kind of group are you a part of anyway, for you and that woman to sit there like that? You've got to be either extremely devoted, or extremely afraid of whoever is running these games. Or just extremely crazy. Is there even a group or is it just you and your creepy girlfriend?"

"Jealous?" He smirked and she scoffed before turning to walk down the street.

Following her, he added. "I'm sure you know these are more than just games."

"Yeah, yeah. Tests. And what exactly was that you were trying to prove the other day?"

"Does it matter? We have our reasons. All that matters is whether you passed or failed."

"The fact that you're standing here talking to me tells me I've passed. At least in some way. If not, why would you even be back here wasting your time talking to a street cleaner?"

"I knew you were smart. Let's get back to my first question."

"No, I didn't tell anyone anything."

"Even the person you keep visiting in the grand hall?"

She stopped walking and turned to face him, raising her brow muscle at him in question. "You've been spying on me?"

"Of course we have. You can't expect us to share any of this information you're asking about without us doing our homework on you."

She eyed him for a moment before nodding her head. "I can see that, I guess. Even though I don't like it."

"So? What business do you have going to the grand hall?"

"I don't make it a habit to tell people my personal business. But like you said... I'm curious. Especially since I want to make those hours stuck in that room the other night worth it in some way." She hesitated a moment before she continued. "I was seeing someone. Before I got removed from my position and had to move out of the grand hall."

"So you've been going back to visit a boyfriend?"

She nodded. "Sort of."

"Ah, the relationship is rocky at the moment?" "You could say that." She said, obviously annoyed at his line of questioning.

"The same male that visits your dwelling at night on occasion?"

She sighed and stood up straighter. "I guess I should have guessed you'd know about him too."

He nodded.

"No, not the same one. That one is strictly a physical relationship."

"Do they know about each other?"

"Does it matter to you?"

"Not really. But like you, I get curious."

"Might as well tell you, since you're in my business anyway. The physical one knows that's all he is. A rebound hookup after losing pretty much everything in my life. And that's all he wants as well, no drama there. The other one has barely agreed to let me visit him so we're not actually together right now. Something I'm trying to rectify."

"So, that's a no." Butok smirked slightly. "You think the fancy male at the grand hall would still let you come visit him if he knew about your mysterious visitor?"

She pinned him with a death glare. Rahn may think that type of situation was a disgusting thing to do, but Lana needed a practical reason for both her visits to the grand hall, and Dom's visits to her house. This was just practical. Besides, it only benefited her goal if this elusive group thought she was the type of person willing to go behind their backs and be secretive.

"He has no reason to know." She shrugged. "Don't worry about my virtues. If he agrees to get back together with me, I'll call off the night time visits. Besides, I won't need them anymore, will I?"

Butok scoffed but she saw the corners of his lips turn up. "You are quite the female."





~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

I've been working on editing and streamlining the story before posting so I apologize I've not been posting as often as I was hoping to.

I would really appreciate some feedback at this point. We're at the point in the story where things are going to start picking up. I wanted a chance to introduce characters and world build a bit before we got into the swing of things but has it been too boring so far? Moving too slowly?

I've found that writing a sequel is MUCH more challenging than writing an original but I still really want this book to be fun and exciting for you. I do promise we will eventually get to exciting things in this one!