Linea had to admit that she had not expected Maria’s Palace to be such an exquisite establishment. In fact, the music and dance show which Basil and Eliza had performed in the early evening was well-performed, even if it was too indecent at the end for Linea’s taste. The most surprising part were the guests, however. Linea had expected them to be male only and rather obnoxious. But instead at least a quarter of the guests were women. Some guests wore masks, which covered their upper faces and protected their identities as far as Linea could gather. It was interesting to see that some guests only stayed for the show while others arrived after the show had already ended. Linea was also sure, that she saw a couple entering together, but the man headed to the up-stair rooms with Nisbeth, while his woman mingled with other guests.

The whole evening was an experience which Linea had not seen coming.

“Want to try?” Eliza asked Linea as they stood behind the bar cleaning glasses. Linea had taken glances at a table to the side of the room where three men and a woman played some kind of card game. Most guests and escort ladies had already gone by that time, but Basil was still playing a soft tune on a flute and some guests still chatted leisurely or played cards.

“They play for money and I don’t have any…” Linea noted and focused back on the glass she was polishing.

“I can give you some money,” Eliza said and took coins out of a glass underneath the bar. “Part of the tip should be yours either way.”

“What’s a tip?” Linea asked, counting the money in Eliza’s hand.

Eliza looked a little lost at her.

“You don’t know what a tip is?” she asked. “Why did you think some customer’s gave you more money than they had to pay?”

Linea hesitated, but answered, “I thought they were bad at counting money…”

Eliza laughed and patted Linea’s shoulder.

“You’re such an angel,” she said and put her arm around Linea. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

As they came closer to the table, the card players looked up to them.

“Hey, would you mind playing a few rounds with our newcomer?”, Eliza asked them. “Low stakes.”

The players looked at each other.

“Well, I guess it’s getting late anyway,” one of them said. “She can take my place.”

“Thank you!” Eliza said and beamed at him. She coaxed Linea to sit down on the now open seat with a bit of force, but Linea put no real resistance against it.

“Do you know the rules?” one player asked. He was an older gentleman, who Linea had seen playing this card game all evening. “My name is Akulis.”

He starched out a hand towards her, which she took after a quick moment of hesitation.

“My name is Linea,” she replied. “And I’m sure I saw enough, but perhaps you could give me an overview, so I didn’t misinterpret something.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll get something to drink, while you’re going through the rules,” the other man said. “And for the sake of it, my name is Tibus.”

Linea nodded at him.

“I won’t tell you my name,” the woman said with a smile, when Linea looked at her. “But you may refer to me as Finarilla.”

“Or Fina, if you want,” Akulis said with a chuckle.

“Urgh, I told not to call me that. Finarilla is the name of a powerful mage of ancient times,” Fina said, but her voice sounded resigned. “Either way, please excuse me for a moment.”

She stood up and left them alone.

“All right, let’s start with the basic stuff,” Akulis said. “The game is called Sevur and was invented by a mage in Ossina with the same name.”

He got through the basic rules rather fast, but Linea could follow him with a few questions. She even asked Sarah to help her a bit, but Sarah seemed to be in her own thoughts not listening to her.

“Are you done explaining?” Fina asked as she returned a few minutes later and sat down again. Tibus followed behind her with a beer in his hand.

“Almost,” Akulis said. “A round ends when all players have run out of cards. Or if only one player has cards left since there would be no opponent left he could play against. In that case he can trade two of his own cards to steal one card from the discard deck of another. The cards the player uses for the trade are put aside and do not count for the discard deck when the cards are being counted.”

“All right,” Linea said with a smile. “I think I got it. Let’s play?”

“Sure,” Akulis said and shuffled the deck.

“While he prepares the deck, can you tell us something about your home?” Fina asked and leaned towards her. “I never traveled much, because of my husband’s work, but I always wanted to see the world.”

“Even if you would have been able to travel around, you couldn’t enter Luna’sindra either way. We tend to keep humans out.”

“That’s too bad,” Fina replied with a sigh. “The world would be a much more interesting place to live in without all the animosity between all the races.”

“But instead, humans invent stuff like this to enslave people, who are more powerful,” Linea said and tipped against her collar.

“More powerful, huh?” Akulis said and grinned. “I heard you were a princess. I can’t imagine how much you had to fight.”

“Are you mocking me?” Linea asked and scrunched her nose. “And technically I’m still a princess.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he replied. “I literally can’t imagine what your life was like in Luna’sindra. There are few travelers who can claim to have visited the miraculous wonders of your lands. Whatever goes on in that forest is as mysterious as the ocean. I apologize if I have offended you.”

He put down the deck and everyone drew a card and showed it to the others.

“I guess, I’ll start then,” Linea said pointing at her card. “I can tell you a few bits about my culture, if you’re interested.”

“And when he finally threw that javelin, he stumbled over his own feet and fell right on his face,” Linea said as she recalled a memory from her youth about her brother Shandir. “Believe me, I haven’t seen him so embarrassed ever since.”

Fina and Tibus were chuckling while Akulis gave a small smile. They had stopped playing cards over an hour ago, because Linea had already lost all her money to the more experienced players, but Fina had offered her winnings, if Linea would keep telling about her life in Luna’sindra. At first Linea was wary about the intentions of the older woman, but she never pressured Linea to tell things she thought of as too much of a secret.

“And all that in front of the girl, he tried to impress?” Fina asked.

“Yes,” Linea replied. “If I remember correctly, he didn’t talk to her for a month, because every time he saw her, he would get red like a tulan.”

“What’s a tulan?” Tibus asked.

“It’s a mammal with brownish-red fur with an incredible fluffy tail. About the same size as a cat.”

“That sounds cute!” Fina commented and looked delighted. “Is it docile? Can you keep it as a pet?”

“Sort of…” Linea replied. “If you have a big enough garden with a lot of trees, you can coax them to live there and even feed them, but if you try to domesticate them, they can get rather depressed and will die fast. So, we don’t force them.”

“I would love to see one…”

Their little round got interrupted as someone knocked at the door. Linea looked surprised to Eliza since the day was getting laid and they hadn’t expected anymore guests for this evening. Ska walked to the door and opened it. Madame Maria entered first, followed by a rather rotund man with a crooked nose and a sturdy man with an aura of a fighter.

“It’s so good to be here again,” the fat man in his fine robes said and patted Maria’s butt.

“Behave yourself!” Maria said with fake indignation. “Or else your darling will get jealous.”

“Excuse me then,” he replied and walked over the bar where Eliza already went around to greet him. “Darling! I missed you the most!”

“Good!” Eliza said with a laugh. “I missed you as well. Do you want to go down immediately, or can I offer you a drink first?”

“A bird told me you have a new face around,” he said and a quick glance at Linea confirmed that he meant her. “I would like to have a word with her. A glass of red wine would be nice for later. But nothing too strong, I already had a fair share of alcohol tonight.”

“You can say that again,” the muscular man agreed and sat down at the bar. “I have yet to see someone, who can drink the cardinal under the table.”

Everyone except Linea laughed as she didn’t quite get the joke.

“Let me introduce you then,” Maria said and signaled Linea to come closer.

“This is Princess Linea,” Maria said. “Linea, this Cardinal Huvis. One of the more liberal officials in the city.”

“Your Royal Highness,” the cardinal greeted her and even got on his knee before her, much to Linea’s surprise. She instinctively offered him her hand on which he breathed a faint kiss.

“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, and I would like to give my sincere condolences for your recent losses. It’s tragedy that so many good lives have been lost to war.”

Linea pulled back her hand and her facial expressions hardened.

“It is… interesting to meet you,” Linea simply said.

Cardinal Huvis nodded and gave Eliza a sign.

“If you would excuse me, I have an appointment,” he said with a smile and followed Eliza, who was carrying two glasses and a bottle of wine downstairs.

Linea’s eyes followed him, not sure what the meaning of all this was.

“So, you’re Linea, eh?” The man, who had arrived with the cardinal, asked. “Hey, old man! What do you think of her?”

He directed his question to Akulis, who rose from his seat and walked over to the bar.

“She learns quick, but I’ve no idea if she can even hold a sword,” Akulis explained. “We only talked about social stuff so far, so there might be some secrets she didn’t share with us yet.”

“For one thing, of course there are secrets I didn’t talk about,” Linea interrupted them with crossed arms. “And for another thing, could you not talk about me as if I wasn’t here? Who are you, what are you talking about?”

“You didn’t explain?”

“Not yet. I wanted to get an impression of her without revealing too much.”

“Sly old fox,” the man at the bar said and looked at Linea. “Excuse my impoliteness then. My name is Joven. I’m a gladiator of the old man’s gladiator school, and part-time worker here at Maria’s.”

“So, they meant it when they talked about bringing me to the arena?” Linea asked after she realized what the two were talking about.

“That’s the last I’ve heard,” Joven confirmed and looked at Akulis.

“Correct,” the old man said with a nod. “In a few days, you will be brought to our training grounds, so I can test you. We can’t have you put in too much danger, but without a challenge the viewers would get bored.”

“This going to be fun!” Joven said and patted Linea’s back which made her recoil.

“Fun? I’ve read about gladiator fights in the empire. Bloody and barbaric.”

“Well, of course,” Joven said and raised an eyebrow. “That’s what the people want to see.”

“Absolute barbaric…” Linea sighed and looked at Madame Maria. “Would you excuse me? I’d like to retire for the night.”

“Well, I have nothing to do for you, so you might as well leave. I’ll get the two guards Levi left behind to escort you back.”

‘Sarah,’ Linea said in her mind and put more mental pressure behind it as she feared that Sarah wouldn’t notice her again.

‘Hm?’ Sarah replied absent-minded.

‘We’re heading back to the manor. Are you done ‘making plans’?’

‘For the most part,‘ Sarah said with wicked delight. ‘But we need to need to talk with your sister first, as some of those plans will include her.’

After heading back to the manor, Sarah and Linea wasted no time before sneaking out again to fly over to the harbor district. They found the inn where they had left Senia the night before, without problems, but upon arrival a sight they hadn’t expected greeted them.

“What is the meaning of this?” Sarah asked irritated, but also some agitation from Linea had swapped over to her.

Tirell sat on the floor in front of the bed, a sobbing Senia in her arms.

“What did you do to her?” Sarah asked as she stepped through the window.

‘Yes, what are you doing?’ Linea screamed in their mind as well.

‘Calm down, I’ll handle that,’ Sarah reprimanded her as she couldn’t have Linea’s emotions influence her so much.

Tirell looked up in surprise, and tried to say something, but as she caught sight of Sarah, she halted. She gave Sarah a quick examination, and then she smiled.

“This makes so much sense…”

“I congratulate you on whatever revelation you got, but if you don’t start talking…” Sarah said without completing her threat. Instead she took over Senia from Tirell’s embrace and patted her head. “Shh, everything is going to be fine.”

Senia actually calmed down a bit, but she still couldn’t control her sobbing.

“I did nothing. I swear!” Tirell said as she realized what this situation might have looked like. “It was just, she was wailing so loud that Other guests complained about it, as they tried to sleep. My father was angry and threatened to throw out ‘whoever that harpy is’, so I saw no other way to go in and calm her down, the best I could.”

Sarah looked deep into the girl’s eyes, but she couldn’t see any sign for a lie. Also, what she had seen fit into Tirell’s narrative.

“Fine, I’ll believe you,” she said and with telekinetic help, she lifted Senia from the ground and put her down in her bed.

“So, you two really are those two princesses? From the Elfwoods?”

“Elfwoods?” Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow. “The country’s name is Luna’sindra. We wouldn’t call this city ‘island village’ either.”

“Ah, sorry,” Tirell said, but she was beaming at Sarah, nonetheless. “I have never seen a princess from close up before! Or an elf! I have so many questions! Like… Did you grew up in a castle? Do you have hundreds of beautiful dresses? Oh, you probably had like a lot of shoes, right? I only got two pairs, one for the day and one for when we got to temples.”

“Calm down!” Sarah ordered in a hushed tone. Senia had fallen asleep as soon as she had been laid down, and Sarah didn’t want to risk waking her up. She got up, and walked over to the only chair in the room, on which she had seen a new, better looking cape. She threw on the cape and signaled Tirell to follow her. The girl gave a quick look to Senia and then followed Sarah outside.

Downstairs in the tavern, no one was around, and Tirell went to the bar to get Sarah a tankard with beer.

“I’ve got no money on me,” Sarah warned her, but Tirell waved her off.

“Dad won’t notice one missing beer,” she said and placed it down for Sarah. “Now, spill it. How did you do it?”

“Did what?”

“How did you free her? The whole city is talking about the princess that the prince got as a slave. How did you get her away from him, especially with that thing?”

Tirell pointed at Sarah’s neck, to which it was still attached.

“Let’s just say, I have my ways,” Sarah said and leaned more towards the girl. “But to make one thing clear: I didn’t get her back by asking nicely. I don’t like threatening people, but this is too important for me. You can tell no one about either of us. Or else…”

“I don’t like being threatened either and I wouldn’t tell anyone! I swear!” Tirell said and made a gesture with her hand, where she made a fist and pointed her index finger upwards, just to bend it halfway down.

Sarah tried to determine Tirell’s honesty by her expression, but she felt something more was needed. She reached for the girl’s mind with her psionic powers, before Linea stopped her concentration.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Trying to make sure, she was telling the truth,’ Sarah replied slightly annoyed. ‘I would like to not have this discussion right now. She is neither friend nor family. Can we say for now that this is a matter of life and death? Because it could be!’

Linea was silent for a moment as she thought about it.

‘Fine… But this is an exception!’

Sarah started the process again while Tirell looked confused about her sudden silence. To her disappointment, Sarah couldn’t just walk through all the memories the girl had, but the most prevalent ones that floated on the surface were easy to grasp. The first thing she noticed was a deep respect the girl had for Sarah, or Linea to be more precise. Sarah couldn’t read any reason for that, but the girl was probably not thinking about her reasons for this respect. The next thing that became clear was her honesty. She didn’t lie about her intentions to keep quiet about the whole thing.

Just as she wanted to pull back from Tirell’s mind, she stumbled upon a new thought the girl had. Something about introducing her to some kind of gang leader.

“Princess?” Tirell finally asked, ripping Sarah from her concentration.

“I’m sorry…” Sarah said as she tried to sort her thoughts. “I believe you for now.”

“Thank Kava,” Tirell said with a relieved laugh.

“But!” Sarah interjected. “I have the feeling that something here is fishy and you’re not telling me something. I don’t know if I can trust you with my sister in the long run.”

Tirell played with her fingers as she watched her feet dangling down from her barstool.

“I’m not sure how to go about this…” she said. “In simple terms I know people of… less than bad reputation. My father works for them.”

“Criminals then?”

“Yeah. But they are not all bad. They care a lot about the people in the poorer parts of the city. At least more than the nobles do!” Tirell tried to advocate.

“I’m not judging,” Sarah said. She knew better than to equate illegal with immoral. She herself had done almost exclusively illegal things in her past life due to tyrannical laws.

“Oh… that’s fine then.” Tirell said. “If that’s the case… I could get you acquainted with one of the higher ups of the Bone Sail Gang. I thought someone, who can snatch a slave from someone of the Imperial Family has to be good. You probably can’t make much money as a slave legally. So perhaps this could be an alternative!”

‘I don’t like this…’ Linea tossed in. ‘I’m not a criminal…’

‘We killed the prince,’ Sarah countered in amusement. ‘Can’t get more criminal than that. Besides, this plays straight into my plans. Not in the way I had planned it, but who cares.’

‘What do you mean?’

Instead of replying to Linea, Sarah focused on Tirell again.

“That would be helpful in my agenda,” Sarah told Tirell with a smile.

“Oh, so you have a plan to get free then? Can you tell me?”

“Of course I have a plan, but you have to earn more of my trust before I will tell you.”