Roxi emerged from the boutique suitably chastised with a brand new silk scarf in black and silver that suited her perfectly. 

I might have gone a little overboard because in what I assume was an attempt to please me, the owner had subjected Roxi to a running lesson on what fashions a Lady’s maid should be wearing and what styles would suit her. That said the exorbitant cost of the stole-like silk scarf helped blunt any guilt I was feeling. That, and watching Roxi after I gave it to her appreciatively running it through her fingers before wrapping it around her neck.

We stopped at several other stores without buying anything as we continued down the street we were on, until like a river emptying into a lake, the street opened up into another square plaza.

My gaze swept across the square as we slowed and came to halt at its border. 

The plaza was bordered on three sides with shops, while the fourth was occupied by a terrace overlooking that provided a broad view of the city and valley beyond. The plaza’s centerpiece was an ornate bubbling fountain depicting a naked woman standing atop of an open shell amongst carved marble waves and surf almost as if it was a strange raft or surfboard.

I wasn’t sure if it was because of the late afternoon hour or something else, but compared to the Market square or even the Imperial Plaza the square we’d entered was only sparsely occupied. Strangely though, the people scattered across it seemed to almost all be standing or sitting in pairs.

Movement drew my attention to a pair leaning against the marble balustrade at the terraces edge as they leaned in together and… 

Kissed!

Eyes darting around I quickly realised the majority of those pairs were either holding hands, hugging or in the act of kissing. Roxi called this the Plaza of the Seafoam Wanderer, fuck thats an Aphodite reference. 

This is a dating location. 

I’m on a date?

Eeeeep!

“Ummm Roxi?”

“Yes?”

“Is this… Are we on a date?”

Looking momentarily dumbfounded at my question, Roxi stared in disbelief before almost collapsing with near hysterical laughter that had all the couples in the square suddenly staring at us.

“You really… hahaha... You really… snrk… You really didn’t know we were on a date? We’ve been holding hands most of the day? We’ve been flirting and teasing each other? We exchanged gifts? You even said it was a date last night? You didn’t know we were on a date? For someone so smart you are really oblivious sometimes.”

“We’re on a date…” I murmured, trying to comprehend what had become of my reality.

“Yep!”

“Oh…” I exhaled, sinking into a crouch and ears flat forward against my hair, I buried my head in my arms and vibrated like an overboiling kettle full of emotions. What emotions I didn’t know, but I was sure embarrassment was one of them.

By the time I finally regained awareness of my surroundings again, I noticed the sensation of a soothing hand gently and slowly stroking my hair. Roxi.

Head slipping free of my arms, I looked up for her and the patting stopped. 

“Are you ok?” she asked looking down at me with concern.

Hesitantly I nodded. 

I think I’m ok?

“Ok,” she chirped, slipping her hands into my armpits. 

Wait? What!

“Uppsie daisy!” she sang as she lifted me to my feet taking my full limp weight and held me there until I eventually agreed to take my own weight and stand on my own.

“So?”

“So…” I responded, still unsure what to say. A date, does that mean she likes me? Why am I feeling hopeful at that? She’s my friend and yes she is really hot and I think about her alot… 

Fuck I’m oblivious.

I’ve been crushing on her this whole time.

Fuck what if it doesn’t work out and I lose her? I can’t lose her! I’m scared! No, I’m terrified of losing her. I’m terrified of someone else dating her. I can’t… 

I’m panting. Deep breaths J— Aisling. Deep breaths. I remembered that prehistoric song Mamaí Aine liked to sing whenever I couldn’t understand why she decided to stay in the Republic to be with Mom Rachel and have me. You gotta gamble everything for love. 

“Roxi?” 

“Yes?” she smiled.

“Umm… Where ah… What do you have planned next for our… umm, date?” I managed to stammer out. I could hear Mamaí singing it.

If you gamble everything for love. You gonna be alright, all right.

* * *

Our date was finished off with dinner in a small player run restaurant on the edge of the square that capitalised on providing a romantic atmosphere for players. I’d been a little surprised by other players adopting an npc lore dating site as their own until we sat through our dinner and experienced it for ourselves.

The restaurant only opened shortly before sunset and we watched as the player owners summoned tables, chairs and dining decor into place out in the plaza itself under the open sky. The tables were mostly set for couples and instead of having the couples face each other directly across the tables, it had them somewhat beside and across from each other facing away from the restaurant itself and looking out over the plaza and valley beyond.

Close enough to hold hands under the table, but also just far enough around the tables to stare into each other’s eyes without craning our necks.

Then as our food was served and we shared meals, the sky slowly shifted from pale blue, through orange and pink as the Sun set behind us, till it was night blue. All while the stars slowly unveiled themselves, the brightest first appearing amongst the shades of violet and lavender and then as the deep dark blue set in, more and more of their less bright brethren began to shine in the daylight’s absence.

With the Sun now set and our meals finished, dinner had unfortunately come to an end and we had to make our way back to the Palace before Gael or the Duchess sent out a search party.

Quietly and with few words, we reluctantly and slowly made our way up the City’s slope to the Palace on high, holding hands as we tried to delay the date’s conclusion. Slow as we were, it still wasn’t long before we exited onto the main street linking the Palace to the city gates and the Palace started to come into view.

As we grew nearer a flickering orange glow ahead haloed the street ahead and sent shadows dancing across the Palace’s front. 

The orange glow of many torches.

Even closer I could now smell the smoke. The hairs on my arms were starting to rise up and I could feel my legs starting to shake with the fear shivers that were building and running down my spine with every step we took towards the glow.

Torches under an open night sky was never an omen of anything good, only bad.

The urge to dart down a sidestreet and try to circle round them or hide before we came into view was weighing down my feet even as my blood started to pound in my ears.

The feeling of my hand being gently squeezed brought me back to the present as I found myself being pulled closer into Roxi’s side, before the hand slipped to reappear around my far shoulder. A protective gesture as we pressed onwards.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step...

The low roar of many people whispering rumbled through my flattened ears as the crowd came into view. The crowd stood between us and the now closed gates to the Palace Citadel filling the entirety of the small square that bordered the Palace complex’s wall and gatehouse.

Beyond the mob and surrounded by a protective layer of Palace guards, a wooden scaffold and platform that hadn’t been there when we left the Palace this morning, had been erected against the wall and beside the gatehouse. 

Pushing and weaving our way through the whispering mob towards the front, we found ourselves close enough to make out the Duchess standing atop the platform facing away from the crowd. Drawn up behind her was a number of well dressed individuals in noble garb, polished armor and uniforms of office that could only be the members of her Duchal Court. 

At her feet was a filthy looking bound man on his knees wearing soiled clothes that had once been the expensive threads of nobility, hands tied behind his back and from them a rope leading off to a guard standing a few feet to the side.

The night grew still and the whispers died off as the Duchess turned away from her Court to face the assembled crowd. 

A moment of silence passed as she stood there looking towards the citizens gathered before her.

Then her chest rising as she drew a deep breath she began to speak, her voice carrying imperiously over the crowd.

“People of Parcosia, of Santarriral, you have gathered tonight to hear and to witness judgement being passed down. Before me lies Arvel Thurnscoe our former Chief Diplomat, who has been exposed as a traitor to my family, Santarriral and the Duchy of Parcosia.”

As she paused for effect, whispers rose up to fill the void.

“Despite receiving abundant opportunity and recognition when he was raised far above his previous prospects by my ever generous late husband, the traitor Thurnscoe conspired with his estranged kin to support the Usurperous Baron Redwood.” 

Again whispers rose up to fill her pause and I looked up at Roxi meeting her gaze. We both knew this was the result of the package we had delivered to the Duchess after the intended recipients at Fort Brightspring tried to arrest us in case we’d read the conspiratory notes within that they were also a party to.

Having allowed her words to sink in, the Duchess resumed her deposition. Once again quieting the crowd.

“In the Baron Redwood’s service Thurnscoe acted as a spy reporting on our movements, sabotaged negotiations with the Baronial factions and worst of all bought out several squads of the Santarriral Guard and plotted to stage an uprising within the walls while Redwood’s armies laid siege outside. Plotted to open the gates and expose the citizenry of this city to arson, pillage and slaughter.”

This time her pause was not filled with whispers. Instead aghast voices rose up having been shocked by the revelation and forgotten how to whisper. And then there was the loud and angry jeering aimed at Former Chief Diplomat Arvel Thurnscoe raising up from within the now definitely mob. 

“Our laws have but one answer, one sanction for such treachery. May Ruin receive this soul. Commander Iefan if you’d please do the honors.”

A man dressed in a vastly more ornate version of the city guards armor stepped forth from amongst the Duchesses court and strode to stand beside the now resigned prisoner. From his belt he drew his sword and as he raised it on high with both hands I looked away.

Even looking away I could hear the swooping woosh of the blade through the air, the two dull thuds of the head and then the body hitting the platform and the gasps and jeers of the crowd as it happened.

“It’s alright, it’s just a game,” Roxi whispered, as she drew me in closer.