“Oh, yeah. That’s, uh…you know, I can’t remember the name because it’s weird, but my troll-neighbor friends cooked it for me one time. Some kind of plant, I think. It moves. Sometimes.”
“Okay, so nothing with eyes, but the plants still move after they’re cooked. Excellent.” Ember shook her head. “I don’t even care. I’m starving.”
“Dig in, then.”
The fae burst out laughing. “They didn’t bring any silverware.”
Cheyenne grinned. “Can you imagine raugs cutting into something like this with a dainty silver utensil in each hand?”
“No, but I can vividly picture them cramming handfuls into their mouths.” Wrinkling her nose, Ember reached toward the steaming mound of raug delicacy. “We’re going to eat this with our hands, aren’t we?”
“I mean, you could always opt for the magical energy bar in your lunchbox.”
Ember snorted. “I heard those were better to save for emergencies.”
“Okay, then.” Cheyenne plunged her fingers into the top of the pile. Thick, drooping noodles plopped back onto the tray when she tried to lift the whole thing to her mouth.
“Oh, jeez. Come on, I knew you had weird eating habits, but this is going a little too far.”
The halfling chewed, nodding slowly, then swallowed and grabbed a cup to wash it down. “Okay. After a chaser, it’s not that bad.”
“Awesome.”
“I’m staying away from that blue stuff, though.”
Outside below the small terrace, raugs shouted at each other and knocked something over as the closest onlookers laughed and cheered on the fight.
Ember looked through the open wall toward the terrace. “These guys like their fights, don’t they?”
“I hadn’t seen raugs fighting before today.” The halfling sucked leftover pieces of whatever it was off her fingers. “I mean, besides Gúrdu that one time. Those warriors outside the gates? They were pretty brutal and way too fast for something their size.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, moving at superspeed isn’t exactly an advantage.” Cheyenne snorted and scooped up another bite. “Maleshi got punched out of hers.”
“No way.”
“They were all egging each other on. Hopefully, they got it out of their systems.”
Ember laughed. “Listen to you, being all diplomatic and frowning at the brawlers in the streets.”
“I mean, I ended up fighting them too, but you’d be proud of me, Em. I tried to break it up with words first.”
“You’re learning.”
“I’m trying not to be that pissed-off drow who gets stupid when something goes wrong. L’zar doesn’t lose it the way I do, at least most of the time, but spending so much time with him definitely makes me realize how much I don’t want to be like him in a lot of ways.”
“Was he fighting too?”
Cheyenne almost sprayed her next sip of water all over the table but managed to swallow it and laughed. “Are you kidding? He sat there and watched the whole thing like it was his own private show. Could’ve pulled out a bowl of popcorn, and it wouldn’t have been weird.”
“There’s one thing you don’t have to actively avoid not to be like him.” Ember slurped a long, dangling noodle into her mouth, spraying sticky sauce all over her chin. She snorted, looked around for a nonexistent napkin, and used the back of her hand instead. “You’ve never been the kind of person who sees someone needing help and stands there watching.”
“Not after the first time, anyway.” Cheyenne buried her face in her cup for a long drink. My friends get shot when I don’t step up and do something.
“L’zar could use some pointers from you that way.”
“Right. Like he’d listen to them.” The halfling shook her head. “I lost it on him when the capital exploded. He wanted to run away. That’s all he ever does. And then he tried to stop me from helping a whole bunch of other magicals who would’ve been flattened by a falling building if I hadn’t stepped in. I mean, I’m not saying I always make the best decisions, but at least I’m trying to be better about it.”
“And you think L’zar’s too stuck in his ways to even bother trying, huh?”
Cheyenne looked up from the tray and frowned. “He is.”
Ember pressed her lips together and looked back down at the tray. “Maybe you’re paying too much attention to what you don’t like about him.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t try to tell me L’zar’s a good guy with a big heart who had a rough time growing up, and all he needs is a little love.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
Something heavy and metal clattered to the floor outside below the terrace, followed by cheers and snarls of encouragement.
“Okay.” Ember leaned away from hovering over their weird dinner. “You guys had a little heart-to-heart after you got thrown out of that cave, right?”
“Just casually, huh? The Sorren Gán threw out the drow trash.” Cheyenne laughed.
“Hey, that’s an excellent description.” Ember looked around unconsciously for a napkin again, couldn’t find one, and settled for sucking the sauce off her fingers. “But I’m serious. A few weeks ago, you would’ve fought every single one of us to avoid sitting down with him like that. It looked like a pretty intense conversation, and no one left it bleeding or looking pissed.”
“Yeah. I guess it was.” Pretty sure that’s something L’zar wants to stay a secret. I can’t believe I’m gonna keep it for him.
“While you two huddled on the other side of that clearing, Corian had a lot to say about L’zar’s sudden decision to start making better choices.”
Cheyenne cocked her head. “Corian doesn’t ever have a lot to say.”
“It felt like a lot for him, okay?” Ember leaned back against the lounge. “He said he’d never seen L’zar show so much restraint toward another magical coming at him like you did.”
“He was trying to protect himself, Em. Not by fighting me back, by trying to convince me I was wrong and he was right the whole time.” Cheyenne shrugged. “Which might technically
