1012 words
-----
Obviously, though, Sera’s brain was ready to think about them now. Despite the jostling of the crowd and the tight grip Avon had on her arm, her mind raced. She could amend the NDA she’d cast on the translation team and ask them to send in written statements. If they could go to a notary, then all the better. And really, if the North Wilds Company decided they wanted to duke this out in the court of public opinion as well as in real court, then giving the linguists permission to go around publishing might be an effective countermeasure in certain circles.
They turned off of Adventurer’s Lane, down one of the many side streets that would take them towards the temple. And as the noise of the crowd grew duller and duller, she stared at Benvolius’s back, barely taking notice of the way his dark green vest wrinkled at his waist while he walked. He kept beaming up at Kyle, oohing and ahhing at all the right moments as Kyle recounted their siren job.
Avon twisted around and rolled their eyes. “Cerene and Savidge, you’re ridiculous. Fine, walk and talk with me! Whatever.”
Sera blinked up at them and wrinkled her nose, doubtful.
“Don’t give me that look.”
“Well,” she said, as Avon tugged her past a rickety balcony hung heavy with someone’s laundry, “I was just thinking how to argue for a physical search as part of discovery.”
Avon wasn’t looking at her, but she could see the arch of their eyebrows and consternated expression anyway. “Er. Are there requirements you have to meet? Standards, or whatever you lawyers call them?”
“Only reasonable suspicion that a party is likely to hide evidence that should be turned over in discovery,” Sera replied.
“You don’t think an NDA would physically prevent members of the Wilde family from turning over that kind of thing, do you? We could test it, even. On Ben.”
“What, like have him write something down away from the group and then try to bring it to us?”
Avon shrugged, which probably meant she’d guessed right. It wasn’t a bad idea.
“You might even be able to demonstrate that in court,” Sera muttered. She hoped Hauli and Wilbert had submitted paperwork to get a neutral third-party with magic sight into the courtroom. Kaliko might deride other wizards, but the court had mages on retainer who could fulfill such a request. Sera just wasn’t familiar with them, since it hadn’t been her focus.
Avon continued pulling her along in silence, and they eventually emerged onto the wide, open thoroughfare where the temple sat just a few more blocks away. Here, Kyle’s bellowing laugh floated away into the night instead of echoing off the tight alley walls. Sera felt suddenly exposed.
Kyle, Kali, and Benvolius were a good distance away, just far enough that she might have trouble throwing up a shield spell were something to happen. Not that anything would. Few people were idiotic enough to jump pedestrians so close to Librata’s domain.
She almost didn’t hear when Avon spoke again. “Obviously a lot’s going on, but I’ve been wondering…”
Sera snapped her gaze to Avon’s fiery red hair, tied back into a loose braid with a once-yellow ribbon. They didn’t turn to face her as they spoke.
“When are you going to be ready?” they asked. “It doesn’t have to be today, you know. But I’d like a timeline so I’m not just waiting forever.”
A part of Sera wanted to ask, “ready for what?” but she knew what Avon was asking about, and it wouldn’t do her any favors to be so facetiously ignorant. She instead said, haltingly, “I could– maybe. Say part of it?”
At this, Avon did turn back toward her, their face slack with surprise. “What, like tonight?”
They were a block from the temple now, and Sera looked helplessly at its firm, strong lines. The white columns glowed perfect white in the moonlight, straight and unyielding. Librata was silent in Sera’s chest, as if the goddess were holding her breath, waiting until Sera acted to pass divine judgement.
“Sure,” Sera said. Gods. Her voice was shaking. That was embarrassing. “We can… sit under the colonnade.”
Avon scoffed. “You and Kali and your big, fancy words. I clearly have a type when it comes to roommates.”
“She’s probably a better roommate than I was.”
The two of them turned up the steps. The other three were already at the top, and Kyle shot a questioning glance over his shoulder as Kaliko moved to lead them all inside. Sera waved him on.
“She’s a hell of a lot messier than you,” Avon laughed. “And a worse a cook! Let’s just say there are pros and cons.”
This was easy. Bantering was easy. Why couldn’t they just be like this all the time without Sera having to do the difficult, scary thing? “If Kali’s a poor cook, does that mean she gets to eat your meat pies more than I did?”
Avon smirked.
“Ugh!” As if there weren’t enough things to be jealous of Kaliko for! “I dream about those, you know.” Mostly when she was feeling a lot of self-pity, but now that she’d said it, Sera really did miss Avon’s cooking. Wherever they’d come from, they cooked with an entirely different flavor profile than the one she’d grown up with in the Kavarn mountains: sharply earthy and medicinal from all the cold-resistant plants and mushrooms.
And thinking of home, of course, brought her right back to the thing that had made her leave Avon in the first place.
Her heart, somehow, both froze and kicked into overdrive. Her legs felt leaden, and her steps slowed as she trailed Avon up the stairs. They still made it to the top, though, and Avon wandered into a dark corner of the colonnade before dropping down to sit.
They patted the stone floor next to them. Sera wanted to crawl out of her skin. Like an insect stuck in sap, she slowly, jerkily lowered herself to the ground.
----
Haha I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere again instead of being stuck in the court-preparation loop. AT LAST.
