The King was dressed casually in a simple vest and dress slacks, with his crown set aside next to his dinner plate. Evelyn sat across from him in a pale blue gown that sparkled in the light from the chandelier overhead. He looked up from his food and asked, "Have you found a man you like?"

Evelyn felt her heart rate rise and her jaw tighten. This was not a conversation she wanted to have. "How could I, if I'm rarely allowed to leave the castle?" she quipped. She knew it wasn't a productive argument, especially since her suitors kept visiting the castle to try to see her, but she didn't care. There was still some teenage rebelliousness in her.

Her father leaned forward in his chair. "There's that Zach fellow. And you said just yesterday that you'd like to introduce him to me. I was hoping that—"

Evelyn cut him off before he could go any further down that fruitless path. "The introduction would be for practical reasons. He knows a lot about the economy and could be useful to the kingdom." She had yet to reveal that Zach had the same ability she did, and it seemed pointless to do so now when he couldn't actually use it. All that would do was derail Zach's current attempts to get the ability back and complicate things with her father even further.

"So you're saying you don't have any romantic interest in him?"

Evelyn sighed. "I'm saying I don't have any romantic interest in men. I told you all of this a month ago." All things considered, her father had taken the news better than she'd expected. He at least acknowledged that non-straight people existed. But that didn't stop him from hoping that she would someday find the guy that changed her mind.

"You did. But we're royalty. When our hearts' desires and the kingdom's needs don't align, we don't get the liberty of choice."

Evelyn didn't press the issue. She had zero desire to hear yet another lecture about the obligations of royalty.

King Gildahart paused to eat a couple bites of mage-roasted pheasant, perfectly succulent and flavorful, then said, "With the threat of war on the horizon, we need an heir."

"I'm your heir. Can't I rule without a king?"

"Let me rephrase. You need an heir, because I'm going to be a prime target. If I'm assassinated while you're unmarried, the kingdom will be thrown into turmoil. Not only will your line of suitors grow longer than ever before, but the people will fear for your safety. The public is rightfully afraid of having a single point of failure like that. Heirs are insurance against tragedy."

Evelyn thought back to her brief time as a foster child, and then to how much better her life got when she'd been formally adopted. "Could I adopt a child? There are kids in need of homes." Though that number was much lower in New Albion than in Zach's world, since the people here were always in need of able hands to work the land. She also knew that the public would have a hard time accepting an adopted heir; bloodlines and inherited ability were important to the people of New Albion, even if she didn't put much stock in all that.

The King raised an eyebrow. "Are you really so opposed to a marriage of duty? To bearing a child with a good man who you might not love?"

Evelyn took a breath and steeled her nerves, then said, "Would you sleep with a man for the kingdom? Let him enter you every night while your heart withers and your body longs for female companionship?" She hadn't wanted to get so graphic in a conversation with her father, but she knew he couldn't easily answer that.

The room was silent for a long moment. When the King finally spoke, his voice was somber. "I understand your reluctance, I really do. While you were missing, my advisors pressured me every day to remarry and produce a new heir. But I still loved only your mother, and I still held out hope that you would return. And now that you're back, I want you to be the future of this kingdom. But if you truly need me to do so, I will remarry and give you a sibling for you to pass responsibility to."

His little speech seemed hand-crafted to make Evelyn feel guilty, and it succeeded. She felt terrible, like she was letting down her father, the kingdom, and apparently even her unborn sibling.

She finished her current forkful of food, then put her silverware down and stood up. "I need some time to think," she said. Then she left the room, heading towards her tower. More than time alone, what she really wanted was to talk to someone who understood her and wouldn't judge her. She needed to talk to Alexia.

"That dinner was wonderful," Riley said as they walked back to the castle. It was dark, but the streets were well lit and guards patrolled the area regularly. The poorer parts of town were surely less safe, but there was also less profit to be made from theft there.

"It sure was," Zach said, grinning goofily. He'd had two glasses of wine with the meal and they'd hit him harder than he expected. "The food was delicious and so was the look on that grumpy waiter's face when I paid with an Evy." That 50 Hart coin, worth about 250 US dollars, had been total overkill for the meal, forcing the waiter to return with nearly 30 Harts in change.

Zach and Riley had been the youngest patrons in the restaurant by far and they'd stuck out like a sore thumb. Zach guessed that most of those old rich people had made their money from long term investments and owning land. They seemed to dislike young merchants cutting into their comfortable aristocracy. Feeling emboldened by the alcohol, he thought, Good, they better get used to it. With Okwata on the rise again and opening New Albion to more international trade, merchants are going to start grabbing more and more of their pie.

Riley gave Zach's hand a squeeze and said, "Thanks for the meal. I never thought I'd be able to experience something like that."

He squeezed back. "Same. My parents weren't into the fancy lifestyle, but I've seen it on TV." He'd mentioned television to her before, but he knew she still didn't fully understand it. It was the kind of thing you needed to see to believe. Then he turned to her and said, "I forget, have you talked about your parents at all?"

Her face fell. "No. We don't speak anymore, ever since I flirted with the wrong girl and caused a lot of drama. Sometimes I wish I wasn't like that." The belief that homo- and bisexuality were 'wrong' was so ingrained into her and the rest of society that she couldn't bring herself to mention it more directly.

Zach stepped in front of Riley, forcing her to stop walking. "I like you just the way you are."

She raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You're not just hoping for another woman to join our bed?"

Zach turned beet red in an instant and his jaw dropped. "Wha, no, o-of course not!" he sputtered. "You're, uh, more than enough for me."

Riley stepped close, pressing her body to his and looking him dead in the eye. "Am I now? If I'm too much for you, maybe I should go find a side girl for myself…" Thankfully, before Zach exploded from embarrassment and his wild imaginings, she gave him a quick kiss and said, "Just kidding."

Then she darted around him and started toward the castle again, saying, "You're 'enough' for me too, Zach. And teasing you is just too fun!"

The first day of Zach's training with Milo was pleasant enough. Zach liked to learn and the topics were certainly interesting. Milo even seemed somewhat engaged in the lesson. Maybe he saw it as a challenge, teaching the clueless otherworlder how to use magic.

The second day was another matter entirely.

"Did you read the book?" Milo snapped as Zach joined him at the table in the small study.

"I read the chapters on focusing and elemental types, yeah."

Milo slouched further into his chair, as if trying to disappear into his red robes. "Ugh, how are we supposed to accelerate your learning if you're doing the bare minimum?"

Zach frowned. "That's what you told me to read. Tell me to read more if that's what you want."

"Whatever. Just pick up where we left off. Put your hand over the wick and concentrate. And remember what the chapter said about visualization."

Zach sat upright and reached for the small candle they'd been experimenting with. The wick was still untouched, except for the half-dozen times Milo had demonstrated the spell. Zach recounted, "'Hold the image in your head of the desired action, not the desired end state. You need to want a spark on the wick, not a lit candle.' Right?"

"Close enough. Now try it."

Zach tried. He tried again and again, putting all his willpower toward that mental image, toward lighting that candle. If it wasn't for the blisters on his palm from stray flames, he would have thought he wasn't capable of magic at all. After nearly 20 minutes, he stopped to rest. When it came to magic, even failure was exhausting.

Milo was reading a book, something unrelated to their lesson, and he didn't even look up when Zach stopped trying to cast the spell.

Zach asked, "Wouldn't a wand make this easier? Their whole point is to direct the user's mana flow, right?" He also thought, And a wand would save me from these blisters caused by misplaced heat…

Milo closed his book and glanced up. "It would be a crutch, teaching you the wrong way to handle mana. We'd have to spend twice as long unlearning it before you could do anything advanced. Students in university have the time for that. We don't."

While Zach had Milo's attention, he decided to ask, "Why are you so grumpy today? Yesterday was a lot… nicer."

"I'm not grumpy," Milo grumbled, not even trying to make the lie convincing.

"Did something happen? Is Fern okay?"

That got Milo's attention. He glared at Zach and said, "She's fine. She left for home this morning, and she's got plenty of guards with her."

"For home? Back in Kobold lands?"

"Yes, back in Kobold lands. Where'd you think she lives?" Without waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question, he continued, "She needed to return to give status updates on New Albion, and she couldn't justify waiting around any longer to study your ability like she wanted, since you're so far from getting it working again."

Zach bristled. "Hey, I'm trying hard."

"But you're no genius. It's going to take another month at least. So she decided to return home for a bit."

"To Sunrise?"

"No, that's just the closest settlement, not where her family is from. She needs to travel a lot further for that." Milo returned to his book, but he looked positively downtrodden, like he didn't want to be awake, let alone here in the study.

Yep, he's in love with Fern, Zach thought. I'm just not sure if she feels the same. And there's no way to find that out while Fern's away, unless…

Zach resumed his practice and after another hour he had succeeded at lighting the candle a grand total of one time, likely just due to dumb luck. If you shot blindly at a target for long enough, you were bound to hit it eventually. He tried not to dwell on it, since the castle didn't need another buzzkill around.

After parting ways with Milo, Zach decided to ask around and see if any of the maids or Evelyn had talked to Fern recently. He wasn't normally into gossip, but if he could find out whether Fern liked Milo, he'd have a surefire way to cheer the mage up, making for far more pleasant study sessions.

He started with Beebee, who he found wandering the service halls out of uniform. Her normally wild curly hair was braided and pinned in a cute and elegant swirl at the back of her head. She must have been practicing her hairstyling skills.

"Hey, Beebee. Your hair looks great!" he called as he approached.

She lit up instantly and did a little curtsy. "Oh, thank you. I've been experimenting. Working behind my own head was tricky, but it got a lot easier once I set up two mirrors."

He nodded, not wanting to interrupt if she had more to say. When she didn't, he said, "Are you busy right now?"

"Nope! I have the afternoon off. I was going to go for a walk in the park but it's all drizzly out."

"Good, good… Say, have you interacted with Fern much?"

She deflated like a popped balloon. She shook her head and said, "Sorry, I saw her around, but I never talked to her. I try not to annoy the high-profile guests."

Zach couldn't stand to see Beebee sad. He said. "Want to help me find someone who has talked to her?"

Her cheerfulness returned in full. "Sure!"

Beebee tagged along and helped Zach locate the other maids who might have spoken to Fern. They found Riley first, cleaning the dining hall.

When they asked her, her response was, "No, not since the trip to Sunrise. It's almost like she's been intentionally keeping her distance from me. Maybe she feels guilty about my injury?"

"Ah, thank you, Riley," Zach said. He agreed with her reasoning, especially since he still felt guilty about that.

Beebee asked, "Want to come with us on our search? Zach wants to find out if Fern likes someone!"

"No thanks. I've got work to do, and I need to get back into practice now that I've recovered."

"Okay, bye!" Beebee said with a wave as she skipped off down the hall. Zach had to run to keep up.

They spoke to Bethany next, but she'd never really interacted with Fern. Eloise knew even less. Her only exposure to the kobold was during that uncomfortable meeting where Milo insulted her faith. Fern had said something rude too, but at least she admitted her mistake and apologized.

"To the tower!" Beebee proclaimed. "I think Alexia and the Princess should both be there right now."

On the way, she asked, "Why do you want to know if Fern likes someone, anyway? Aren't you dating Riley?"

"I know a guy that seems to like her, and I think it would make him happy if she likes him back, that's all."

"Aww, you're such a good friend, Zach!"

Zach bit his lip. He did not consider Milo a friend.

When they reached the tower, Beebee wanted to do the talking. She was too excited to keep quiet anyway. After a formal greeting, she asked Princess Evelyn, "Do you know if Fern is interested in anyone?"

"No, I don't," Evelyn answered. "My relationship with her was always pretty professional."

"I know something," Alexia said, causing the room to go silent with surprise. No one had expected her to participate in a conversation about someone else's love life. She collected rumors and other information, sure, but not petty gossip.

She ignored their overreaction and said, "I helped pick out the guards to travel with Fern to her home, so I overheard her talking to another ambassador about the reasons for the trip. It's mostly for her official ambassador duties, but she did mention that she wanted to ask her family for permission for something. And she said something about 'love', but that could have been about her family."

Beebee's eyes went wide. She had already formed a theory. "You think she's going home to ask her family permission to date a human?"

Alexia shrugged. "Maybe, but that seems unlikely. She's a diplomat for the Kobold Nation, acting with their needs in mind. Getting romantically involved with someone from New Albion would likely be the end of her career."

"Aww, that's so sad, having to choose between her love and her country. But I'll be rooting for her, whatever she decides!"

Evelyn tensed up at that, but no one else noticed.

Zach chuckled, not at Fern's situation, but at Beebee's reaction. "Beebee, you'd love the soap operas from my world."

Evelyn smiled and agreed. "Oh yeah, they're full of crazy relationship drama and gossip."

"So popras?" Beebee asked, visibly confused.

"Soap opera," Zach said, enunciating it clearly. "I'm not actually sure what the name means. They're like the plays Okwata is famous for, but there's a new chapter every week."

Evelyn added, "Some have five episodes a week. And every episode ends with a ridiculous cliffhanger, where it looks like someone died or your favorite couple broke up. So you have to watch the next one to find out."

Zach turned to her. "You know a lot about soap operas?"

Evelyn shrugged. "Yeah… my adoptive mother loved soaps, so I spent a lot of my childhood watching them."

"Ooh, I want to watch them too! Zach, you should bring them here from your world. I don't think I can be an actress, but I can do the hairstyling!"

Zach wasn't sure that a weekly serial play could work without a way to broadcast it, but he was sure that he wasn't the right person for the job. Once his ability returned, he had far more important things to spend his time on