“I concur,” Lord Reth said, approaching. Even at this late hour, the tall man was clad in an ornate golden robe, giving him a regal bearing. “No doubt you two have much to catch up on, but Vir, the Tribunal would like to meet with you at noon. There are several matters to discuss.”
“Should I be worried?” Vir asked.
Reth returned a smile, but if Vir wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of concern in it. “Not at all. Please enjoy your time together. You’ve done your brothers and sisters a great service tonight. Be proud of that. And do try to get some rest,” Reth said with a wink that made Maiya blush.
“As for what we discussed earlier, Maiya…” Reth said, trailing off.
“I’ve taken care of everything,” Maiya replied.
Reth nodded and walked away, leaving the two alone with the Acira and their tenders.
“What was that all about?” Vir asked.
“Oh, just about you revealing to Tia, Haymi, and Vason that the Pagan Order might not be the demon haters they claim to be.”
Vir’s eyes went wide. “I never admitted I worked for the Order, though? Tia just jumped to that conclusion. I denied it if you remember.”
“She knew. I’d told her the raiders were from the Order. Was the only way I could get her to agree to the plan.”
“Wait. She’s royalty, though. Shouldn’t she have known?”
“Actually, no. Her brother had a gag order for her. He was worried that if she came to know their true nature, she’d wage a holy war against demons on her own. After witnessing her behavior, I can’t say he was wrong.”
“Oh. Grak. The Order’s not gonna be happy about that.”
“Don’t worry about it. I smoothed it over. You might get a talking to in that meeting of yours, but they’re thankful you freed as many demons as you did.”
“O-oh. Thanks.”
“Sure,” Maiya replied, and silence fell upon them.
“So, um…” Vir was at a loss for what to say, despite all the things he wanted to ask her.
“S-so, uh, why, don’t we go somewhere more suitable?” Vir reached for her hand, but suddenly stopped when his heart started pounding madly. “Er, j-just follow me, okay?” he blurted awkwardly, guiding her out of the open-air space, into the castle walls.
“Maiya—”
“Vir—”
“You first,” Maiya said, giggling.
“Well, er. You look nice,” Vir replied.
That’s the first thing you say! Vir thought, panicking. Good job, you chal.
“Thanks? Guess all my Ash-damned training was good for something,” she said, smiling.
Maiya fell silent for a moment, then squeezed his hand. “You holding up alright?”
“I am now,” he said with a wry smile. “And, sorry. For everything I did back there. For… thinking you’d abandoned me. For hurting you. Just… really sorry.”
Maiya let out a breath. “I was worried too, y’know? Thought something had changed in you in these past few months. I’m glad.”
“You’re glad about that fiasco?”
“No. Glad you’re still you. I like you.”
Vir panicked. “What did you—”
“Oh no! No, I didn’t mean—not like that! Ah hah ha. I mean, I like you the old you. I was just worried. Y’know.”
“O-oh! Right. Yeah.”
The two friends fell into another awkward silence, and Vir wondered what he was doing wrong to cause such a bizarre atmosphere between them.
“So, anyway. Crazy coincidence, huh? You being there at the garrison the same time I was?”
Maiya laughed, and again, Vir found his thoughts going blank.
Was her laugh always so melodic? She sure has matured…
“That’s because I was the one who got Tia’s brother to send her there, silly. When I learned through Kin’jal intelligence that you’d signed on with Spear’s Edge, I knew I had the perfect plan for us to meet!”
“You orchestrated all that? By yourself?”
“Be proud!” she said, beaming.
Vir beamed back. “Maiya, where’ve you been? What was your favor to Riyan? Are you alright?”
“That’s a lot of questions! I’ve got plenty of my own, y’know? How about we each take turns?”
“Of course. Sorry.”
Leaving the castle’s confined narrow halls, he led her through the royal gardens and to the Promontory.
“This is really nice!” Maiya said as a gentle breeze ruffled her hair. “Gotta say, I never expected Balindam to be so nice.”
“Right?” Vir said, feeling the initial awkwardness ebb away. “That’s the same reaction I had. Say, how do you know about the Pagan Order? Or wait, that would be another question, wouldn’t it?”
“Sure would!” Maiya replied with a grin. They sat down on the grass, and Maiya kicked off her shoes, leaning her head against Vir. “Remember when we used to hang out like this under the tree at Rabbit Hill? And then under the tree at Riyan’s place?”
“How could I forget? Honestly felt we might never get to do that again. Especially after Riyan’s place burned down.”
This was the sensation Vir had missed—the sense of warmth that came just from chatting idly with his best friend. His worries that they might’ve drifted apart began to ebb, though it made him wonder what that awkwardness was all about.
“Still can’t believe that. I thought Fate was playing tricks on me, or something. It was like someone had just erased his home. There wasn’t any trace of it!”
“Guess the sands must’ve filled Riyan’s place in by now. When I went there, it had already burned to the ground. Wait. That means you found my note!” Vir said excitedly.
“Sure did! Went to the cave right after. I was never as good at navigating that dang maze as you were, but I managed alright. After that, it was Daha, then Zorin, then Avi,” she said, counting the towns and cities on her fingers. “It’s been quite the pain finding you, y’know? You could’ve made it easier by not jumping around like a prana frog!”
Maiya punched Vir’s shoulder lightly, earning her a chuckle.
“Sorry. I’ll tell that to the people who were hunting me next time. ‘It’d really inconvenience Maiya, so would you please stop following me?’”
Maiya broke into a fit of giggles. The laughter passed, and her expression turned solemn.
“And yet, here we are,” Maiya replied.
“Here we are…” Vir echoed. His mind still couldn’t comprehend that Maiya was back. Actually back! After so long apart, she’d just popped up in his life again, albeit in a most unexpected way.
“Never in a million years did I think we’d reunite as enemies.”
“You’re surprised—what about me? I literally hired you for help! At least, I thought I was hiring you. Imagine how I felt when I got the baggage without the cake!”
Vir’s cheeks flushed.
“O-oh, I mean, not that you’re a cake,” Maiya hastily added. “I don’t want to eat you or anything. I mean, not like that!”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? So you do want to eat me?”
“No, like—agh! Just forget it!”
Vir laughed so hard, he teared up.
“Bully,” Maiya said, pouting.
“You honestly did that to yourself.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, leaning on each other as they watched the world wake up.
“Riyan sent you to assassinate Princess Mina Hiranya, didn’t he?” Maiya asked quietly.
“How’d you know that?”
“I’d suspected for a while. Riyan was… obsessed with the princess. He genuinely hates her, Vir. I figured your mission would be related, but when he started training you to be an assassin? And an assassin that specialized in fighting mejai? I was almost sure of it. Of course, not like he’d ever admit it to me.”