Everyone was annoyed by the news reporters. Not just the ones from ShiShi, but all over. Ropear, Saoloro, Vannana and Sandala all had their own news station being sure to interview as many of the rulers as they could. Most of them were used to it, giving bland answers to satiate them or going out of their way to avoid them.

“Rory. Can you answer the questions people have about-“

“Fuck off, I already said it.” Rory said. “Go talk to my people if you want an answer.”

“I’m not entirely sure what to even say, it was all so sudden.” Was Kazumi’s usual response. “And so little time into my presidency before it all happens.” Then she would leave looking dejected and leave the news staff to find someone else. Usually Zach, who was nothing but keen to attempt to put the worries of the people at ease.

“Look, I have plans in place to assure the safety of everyone. The people back in Fightston are working on training as many new recruits as soon as possible to grands that need them. Any mayors of surrounding ships are more than free to contact us in the hopes of having a few soldiers. We want nothing more than for the Skyspace to continue to prosper.” Cassandra watched as he gave that exact speech, without fail, every time, in the same tone. It was actually kind of impressive. Hopefully someone with editing skills could layer them all and it’d end up on Skyspace’s funniest videos or something. She herself was playing a one-sided game of hide and seek around them with Roxanne, and they were all relentless. One from Saoloro had already got Julian, and the two of them were stuck making sarcastic comments at each other in an infinite loop of smartass.

“You think Willow’s stuck talking to one of them?” Roxanne asked, checking the corner for another one.

“No idea.” Cassandra replied. “How long until we get to eat?”

“Let me check…about twenty minutes.”

“Awesome.”

Julian eventually joined them in avoiding cameramen after he won the battle of wits, at least according to him. The three went around the castle’s walls, avoiding anyone they could, even if it wasn’t a cameraman. Being surrounded by the most influential people in the world was actually kind of boring, in all honestly. The three snuck their way onto the roof, where nobody was waiting.

“So is this where we’re waiting until the food?” Julian asked, looking over the city surrounding the castle. Nice lavish looking houses outside the castle with some shopping streets a small bit away. Behind those were some apartment complexes in a neatly polished white.

“Nice place.” He said to himself.

“You think?” Willow asked.

Roxanne jumped at Willow casually standing behind her.

“How long were you there?” She screamed.

“About two minutes after I joined.” Julian said casually. “Honestly, I just wanted to see how long it would take you to notice.”

“Seems I’m forgettable.” Willow said with a dramatic sigh.

“Not at all!” Roxanne yelled back. Cassandra just put a hand on her shoulder.

“So Willow, if I can ask something?” Julian interjected. “Any problems with this place I can know about?”

“What you mean?” Willow asked, joining him in looking over the grand.

“I don’t know, a seedy underbelly or something? Something that would make someone…join a weird cult dedicated to destroying it or another grand, for instance.”

“Got it.” Willow said with a sigh. “Well, I think the main one would be the lack of compensation some people are getting further out.”

“Like on the subships?”

“Further out here. The islands near the edge. Most of them deal with fishing. But it has their own issues, you see. Being separate from the mainland to allow fish societies to integrate more naturally means these fishermen either have to live by themselves or make their families live in more run-down areas. And all for pretty bad pay.”

“Bad pay, huh?”

“Anyone could catch a fish; you don’t need to learn anything special to do it. That’s the reasoning behind paying them less, despite them being arguably the most important people over here.”

“And if they were promised a better life fishing in a new society by the legion, maybe they could join them and poison the fish, or turn a blind eye to their ships.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, hopefully a certain eldest daughter steps up and takes care of things while we have to fight the big battles.”

“Sure thing.” Willow said after a moment of hesitation. Julian thought it would be interesting to press her mother further, but considering his antics yesterday, that would probably had him marked for death.

“So should we get going?” Roxanne asked. “Dinner’s in five.”

Javier was already waiting for the four of them when dinner started. There were only four chairs when they got to their table from yesterday. Everyone was sitting where they were the previous day, when a servant put a calm hand on Roxanne’s shoulder.

“I’ve been told you have a meeting with Rory.” He said calmly. “He’s at the other end of the room.”

The servant pointed her over to the table Rory and Gurpreet were sitting at. The two were making casual conversation that didn’t seem to interest either of them, and she quietly inserted herself on the lone empty chair between the two of them.

Gurpreet looked at her, but didn’t pass much heed, while Rory leaned in a little to glare at her.

“And what would you be doing here?” He asked, raising a thin grey eyebrow at her.

“I was told you wish to talk to me?” Roxanne replied, leaning back while secretly praying her chair didn’t tip over.

“I didn’t wish shite!” He snapped back.

“Be nice.” His wife said flatly.

“Sorry, sorry.” He began again, calmer this time. “I didn’t ask for you. You must be thinking of someone else.”

“But Freyja told me to come here.” Roxanne said. “I thought it might be something to do with the bow?”

“Ah, your group isn’t responsible for that. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“You sure?”

“How old are you?” Gurpreet asked.

“Eighteen.”

“So the fate of the world has been trusted to an eighteen-year-old and her friends. You have enough stresses, don’t let us add to them.”

So with her effectively shut down, the food was served. Roxanne just got what she had yesterday, still tasted as good. Rory and Gurpreet continued their own conversation, with Rory’s throaty laugh erupting over what Roxanne took as a minor statement. Some kind of inside joke, probably. Gurpreet’s wife gave a relaxed smile, so the shock was shown externally.

She stayed silent throughout the meal, not having much important to stay. Eventually the food was finished, and all the leaders and heroes were moved to the dance hall. Just like it was rehearsed, the classical music started playing and people either started dancing or mingling with drinks. Julian and Cassandra started dancing well as they practiced, occasionally having to stop for a little to allow the other couples to move past them. Willow and Javier also started moving around the room together. They also had it down, even if they weren’t as graceful and started to brush against the other dancers at times. The couples danced together, fathers danced with their daughters, it was all such a lovely display of the unity the Skyspace was showing.

Willow was bored. She noticed Roxanne taking a glass of juice after being denied alcohol, standing around in her cute attempt to be casual.

“Javier, how thirsty are you?” She asked.

“A little.” Javier replied. Understatement of the century, the room was making him sweat so much anywhere he stepped probably needed a hazard sign afterward.

“Same here, I’ll go get us something.”

Willow looked around for her mom. Talking to Mia and Kazumi while taking sips from her wine glass, more sophisticated than usual. She found Roxanne, guiding her over to Freyja’s blind spot.

“Hey Roxy, wanna get out of here?” She whispered when Roxanne went over to her.

“To where?”

“To the castle we’ll have access to?”

Roxanne glanced around the room, giving a covert nod. The two tried walking out of the room as discreet as possible, but an especially lanky servant stepped in front of the door just as they were about to cross.

“May I ask what’s going on here?” He asked calmly, offering some orange juice to the two of them.

“We just need to go to the bathroom.” Willow replied quickly.

“Both of you?”

“Is that really that suspicious?”

“A little, I’ll admit.”

Willow leaned into him.

“Look, it’s kind of an emergency. The lady specific kind.”

The waiter looked a little grossed out as Roxanne gave an uneasy nod. He let them through, and Willow looked at the door as it was closing.

“Works every time.” She chuckled.

“So now what?” Roxanne whispered. She glanced around the empty hallways with not a single servant around, and not a sound from any source that wasn’t behind them.

“Whatever we want.” Willow whispered back. “But first, I need to get out of this dress.”

The two went through the hallways while avoiding the few servants that were doing some light cleaning on the halls. After a few minutes, they were in Willow’s room.

It was extremely simple in comparison to what Roxanne thought it would be. Her bed looked exactly the same as her old one back on Miracle with a simple red blanket in contrast to the blue walls. Next to the bed was a wooden dresser. Not with any special design, just an extremely ordinary dresser and wardrobe which Willow was digging through.

“Okay, you want to borrow some clothes or something?”

“Excuse me?” Roxanne asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re my size.” Willow replied calmly without looking, handing her a shirt. It was a neon green shirt with some cartoon character she didn’t recognise on it. Willow handed her some grey sweatpants to finish the outfit.

“You can keep the shirt; some ex gave it to me.”

“Ex?”

“Yeah, she turned out to be an assassin. Shit was wacky.”

With that information given it’s nonchalant explanation, Roxanne went into the bathroom to get out of her dress. The bathroom also wasn’t anything to write home about, other than the fact it was Willow’s personal one. She quickly got into the clothes Willow gave her, heading out to see Willow already dressed in a plain blue t-shirt and black sweatpants casually laying on her bed.

“So now what?” She asked.

A couple ideas flashed in Roxanne’s mind once the question was asked. She had a TV opposite the bed, so that was definitely an option. Or just relax with some music, she definitely had a music player.

“We’re gonna kiss.”

The words left her mouth before they were in her brain. But this was her chance. Her chance to finally seal the deal and make this love adventure worth it. They’d kiss, and then perhaps do some other stuff…okay, let’s not go too crazy yet.

“Yeah, sure.” Willow said with a slow nod.

Okay, this was it. She was ready. She crawled on top of Willow as she lay flat on her bed. She put a hand to each side in an attempt to look assertive, just like in her favourite shows. She lay down and their lips connected, followed by their tongues. This was it. It wasn’t what she expected the end to look like, but she was here.

And it felt so…

…so…

…gross.