Elysi lifted an eyebrow as she watched Phaedra jot down notes after reading one of the many rge tomes she had purchased since they moved into the apartment.

  One of the desks in the room they had designated as office space was half-filled with books of all shapes and sizes. The sheepfolk wondered what the blue-haired healer was reading.

  Like she could feel Elysi’s eyes on her Phaedra stopped writing abruptly and lifted her head, a blush blossoming on her dark skin when their eyes met.

  “Hi…?” She whispered awkwardly. It seemed she hadn’t even noticed Elysi enter the room. Elysi had been looking for a desk to catalog their expenses and was pnning on expining at least some of it to Isran. The pale woman seemed disinterested in such logistics but Elysi wanted her to at least know where the money was going.

  “What are you reading?”

  Phaedra cleared her throat lightly before answering. “Adventuring w and contractual obligations.”

  Elysi lifted an eyebrow. “Why…?” She asked hesitantly. At the end of the day, it wasn’t really her concern.

  Phaedra sighed. “I might have some approaching legal issues…”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Phaedra smiled apologetically. “No.”

  Elysi nodded in understanding.

  They were both quiet for a few beats, Phaedra fidgeting with their hands.

  “I—actually wanted to ask you something?”

  Elysi nodded. “Yeah?”

  “Uh… how did you meet Isran?”

  Elysi smiled. It was an absurd memory. “In the dungeon. I had been robbed, and left in a ditch too deep for me to climb out of… Isran was passing by and saved me from some slime.”

  Phaedra tilted. “And you’ve been together since?”

  Elysi hummed. “Pretty much… she had a lot of money she didn’t know what to do with… she didn’t know what to do with a lot of things. It was strange. She could answer coherently and seemed of higher education but she was so out of depth when we met other people.”

  “Yeah… memory loss.”

  Elysi shrugged. “Very patchy memory loss but it may have been from trauma. She was wearing scraps when we met too… She sometimes uses… weird phrases. Not very often but… do you know any culture that refers to lovers as infants?”

  Phaedra lifted an eyebrow. “Infants?”

  Elysi nodded. “Baby.”

  Phaedra thought a bit. “Palos. My father had purchased a few romance novels from Elvencarth that originated from Palos once, and I had read a few. They used a wide variety of words to address lovers from what I could tell… I can’t say for certain that anyone one culture on Neos does but I have heard stories of aristocrats using strange Palos words to… you know…”

  “Feel smarter?” Elysi chuckled under her breath.

  Phaedra shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe they’re bored. I never met much true nobility so I have no idea.”

  Elysi hummed.

  “She used a Palos word in the dungeon too… when she was talking about the hut.”

  Phaedra nodded.

  “Could someone that knowledgeable about Palos be so… out of depth with something like the value of coin?”

  Phaedra frowned a bit. “I would think not, but then again she might have been sheltered growing up… do you know Isran’s st name?”

  “I never asked…”

  “I don’t know all the noble houses but if her st name is of a noble house I could find it… Are you worried about something?”

  “I’m sure if she doesn’t remember much because of an attack or accident her family might be worried.”

  Phaedra nodded and wrote something down. “Well… they would’ve put up a notice. And she would have been immediately found when she reached the gates of even Thalbrin.”

  Elysi hummed. There was a lingering thought in the back of her head, one she absolutely did not want to say. From the look on Phaedra’s face, she thought the same.

  “It’s illegal.”

  Elysi nodded. “Lots of things are illegal Phaedra. And people still do them.”

  Phaedra gnced around nervously like someone would arrest them for even talking about it. She walked up to Elysi, whispering with a serious expression on her face. “Not summoning. People don’t still perform summonings Elysi.”

  Elysi understood her fear, if Isran was a summoned that was bad, very, very bad. But it was seemingly more and more pusible the longer she spent with the peculiar adventurer.

  Elysi sighed. “Should we—ask her…?”

  Phaedra immediately shook her head. “If she doesn’t know what that is the better we’ll all be.”

  Elysi nodded. It was best to avoid accidentally pnting the idea of summoning in Isran’s mind in the first pce.

  “We never mention it again?” Elysi asked, a tilt to her head.

  Phaedra nodded. “Never again.”

  They put some distance between each other and remained in tense silence for another while. The topic of summoning had dampened the mood.

  “I did have something else to ask actually.”

  Phaedra gave her her attention once more.

  “Do you like Isran?”

  The blush that immediately coated her cheeks at the question was more than answer enough. It was always interesting to watch elves and elven descendants blush, usually imperceptible on elves but on a lighter tone like Phaedra the darker cheeks were interesting to see.

  “I—”

  “You don’t have to be so panicked.” Elysi ughed. “This isn’t some standoff, Isran doesn’t belong to me and can like whoever she wants.”

  Phaedra’s eyes lit up. Elysi realized she had all but confirmed to the blue-haired woman that Isran liked her.

  With a small huffed-out smile she started exiting the room.

  “She will never say it so if you ever dream of something with her I advise you take the first step.”

  “And… you don’t have a problem with it? You gave up your livelihood for her Elysi, that is a very serious commitment.”

  Elysi nodded. “It is, and that is why I understand that I can’t keep her to myself. Look… I really love that oblivious idiot and I want to always see her happy… and I also understand that I’m not the only person that makes her happy. I’m sure enough of my love for her and her love for me that I know it changes nothing…” Elysi smirked. “And besides, I will always be first.”

  Phaedra blinked in light surprise before nodding. “T—thank you…? I’ll consider your advice.”

  “If you don’t speed up Calliope will be her number two and you the third.”

  Elysi wasn’t very sure why she was bringing up that arbitrary ranking. She did feel a little jealous but like she said, she was number one. She had grown up in a culture that had many of the kind of retionship she was realising her retionship was slowly becoming.

  Phaedra blushed at the remark and nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  When Elysi shut the door she rubbed her head lightly and brushed fingertips against her horn, a jealous whore… how pathetic really. But she was first, and she didn’t have to worry… She would always be Isran’s first.