The next few hours were spent helping Mercy train for her fight the next day.

First, Hector sparred with Mercy unarmed in order to help her get used to Macy. It was a weird sight for Jon, as he had never actually watched Hector and Mercy spar before. He doubted that they had done before this.

“I’m nowhere as quick as her,” Hector explained, in a lull after having to deflect several of Mercy’s quick blows. “So, even if I can help you with some of her movements, she’ll probably move too fast to stop completely.”

“I know,” Mercy said, shaking off her hands from the punching.

“...I’m also not so good at the pressure point thing,” he added.

“Hector.” Mercy put her hand on his shoulder. “Whatever you’ll be able to tell me will be good enough.”

Hector looked at her arm with curiosity.

“Uh… Thanks.”

Hector and Mercy then went through several movements, Hector mimicking some of Macy’s wide kicks. It was amusing to watch Hector raise his leg so high as he slowly went through some wider leg movements.

After this, Hector had to go find his father, so Mercy grabbed Jon and let him shoot at her so that she could work on bracing herself.

“I can take a hit,” Mercy called, “but give me some time in between to figure stuff out!”

Jon nodded. It reminded Jon of what he had done with Amalia, except that Mercy wouldn’t be using any form of protection.

Would she be okay with that?

She reached her position on the other end of the ring.

“Fire!” she called.

Mercy covered her face with both of her arms. She was knocked back into the air. Jon thought that she would land on her feet, but instead, she crashed onto one of the wooden tables.

“Mercy!” Jon called.

“I’m fine!” She held a thumbs-up before rising. “That was fun! Let’s do it again!”

She came back to the ring. He fired again.

She was knocked back again, but this time she never lost her balance, landing back on her feet.

“Again!” she said.

Jon fired.

This happened several times, each time, Mercy holding her ground just a little bit more and flying back a little bit less.

After several more attempts, she was able to take on a full blast from Jon without being moved.

“Hah!” She yelled, holding her ground, and keeping her fists at her side as she took the full force of the blast head-on. She hadn’t moved an inch.

Wow. Jon was a bit scared that his blasts wouldn’t be effective anymore.

Mercy must have noticed his worried face because she confronted him on it.

“Jon, you’ll be fine,” she said. “You’re never really trying to kill anyone, and this costs me a lot of mana, so it’s ineffective. I just wanna brace myself for tomorrow.”.

"Speaking of conserving mana,” Mallory said as he approached the circle.

“I’m not using that much,” Mercy replied, though Jon could see her shallow breaths.

“Tell that to someone who isn’t an advanced spellcaster,” Mallory responded. “It’s literally our jobs to record mana levels. You should start your workout with Tallow anyhow.”

“It’s not a workout!” Tallow yelled from the sidelines. She then sighed. “Fine, but don’t we have to go to the ball soon anyway?”

“I’m not gonna go,” Mercy said. “I’m gonna stay behind and find my uncle. Like I said.”

“But, optics, Mercy,” Mallory said. “We don’t want to be on Luther's bad side.

“I’m already on his bad side,” Mercy replied. “It doesn’t matter what I do.”

“And beating up his daughter’s not gonna help, but…” Mallory scratched the back of his head. “I supposed you could skip this one…”

Tallow soon swapped with Jon and Mallory in the ring. She and Mercy began training with just their Vindhazi swords. During their sparring, Mallory had to depart as well, giving a quick wave to everyone before he powerwalked back to the double doors.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were holding back?” Mercy asked after she and Tallow had switched to just using hand-to-hand combat. They wanted to avoid mana usage still.

“Because,” Tallow replied, “You’re insane!”

More blows were traded before the conversation continued.

“You mean, you’re scared of me?” Mercy asked back.

“I mean-” Tallow dodged a blow. “You’re so fast, even if I went faster, it wouldn’t matter! And besides!”

Tallow raised her foot and kicked out towards Mercy, causing her to make a couple of backflips in response.

“This is my best!” Tallow explained. “I fought, and I got cut in the back. So, you’re fighting me at my peak!”

Mercy stood as if she wasn’t interested in fighting anymore. “You were surrounded.”

“Didn’t stop Sabez from not getting cut in the back!” Tallow replied.

“But, you were watching his,” Mercy said. “That’s not on you.”

“Then why didn’t he get stabbed in the back?” Tallow asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Mercy shrugged.

“...Sorry.” Tallow put the back of her hand on her forehead. “That’s not on you to figure out.”

“Did you talk to him about it?” Mercy asked.

“Not really. It happened.” Tallow shrugged. “I’m not gonna pity myself about it.”

“Is there… Mercy looked down at the floor. “...anything I can do?”

Jon didn’t think he ever saw Mercy willingly put herself out there like that. It was almost weird.

“It just needs time,” Tallow said dismissively. “Speaking of which, I think we need to head back.”

Mercy nodded. “Yeah. You gonna take Jon, then?”

“...Yeah. That’s it?”

“That’s it. My uncle should be here soon.”

“Okay… uhh…” Tallow looked away. “Call me if you need me, or something. And worry about you.”

Jon noticed this comment didn't seem as mean as usual from Tallow.

“Always,” Mercy said with a smile.

She crouched down on the floor onto her knees and sat down, closing her eyes.

“Jon, there’s some clothes for you too,” she said from her position, loud enough for him to hear. Her eyes never opened back up. “I figured you want to be dressed up a little more.”

“...Thanks,” Jon answered. He was interested to see what it was.

Tallow took Jon by the chair and wheeled him away. As they did, Jon turned back. He could already see Junwata approaching Mercy before he knelt down into the same position.

Was he watching us? Jon wondered.

He looked up at Tallow, but she didn’t seem to think anything of it.

Soon enough, Tallow and Jon were back in Tallow’s room.

There were two outfits on the bed. The first was Tallow’s ball outfit from the previous day, sans the cape, which Tallow was wearing now. They were sprawled all over the voters of the bed in an unorganized fashion.

Elsewhere, in its own space unperturbed by Tallow’s outfit, was a pile of clothes, topped with a pair of black folded overalls. Upon closer inspection of the overalls, Jon felt that they were both smooth and incredibly comfy feeling, something he didn’t think was possible. His clothes were always soft, and never slick to the touch like these were. He almost wanted to rub the clothes over his face because of the feeling.

Underneath the overalls, he found an orange plaid button-up and a light blue t-shirt.

“There’s more than one color?” Tallow said out loud. “Go figure.”

Did Mercy make this for me? Jon wondered.

“Okay…” Tallow said. She gathered up her clothes into her arm. “I’m gonna go change in the bathroom. You’re good out here?”

“...Shoes,” Jon said.

“Right.” Tallow reached down and pulled off Jon's shoes. She then went into the bathroom.

Jon got to work. First, he unbuckled his overalls. Then, he pulled himself on the bed, using the friction of the bed to drag the overalls off.

Good.

He picked up the new overalls again, not being able to help but gush over the feeling.

So soft.

Under both pairs of shirts, he found a matching black pair of undergarments, which were also black.

Hmmn… Jon figured the color didn’t matter because no one could see them anyway.

After trading his undergarments, he put on both the blue t-shirt and the orange plaid.

Seeing himself in the colors made Jon realize that his farming clothes weren’t very bright, other than the occasional pair of light blue overalls.

Did Mercy plan this? Jon had new things to consider. He would ask Mercy what she thought of his original clothes when they would have more time.

The last thing to do was the overalls. Jon threw them down to his feet while pulling up.

In trying to pull them over his body, he fell over on the floor.

There was a sudden rush of footsteps. Tallow came out of the bathroom with nothing but pants and brown strapless undergarments over her chest.

“You okay?” she asked quickly.

“Yeah!” Jon said. “Sorry.”

“Do you need me to-”

“No.” Jon figured she would ask to help him get into the chair. “Just… gun..”

“Oh. Okay… uh…” Tallow took the gun out of the strap and left it next to Jon. She then simply turned away and walked back to the bathroom.

Thankfully, from here, all Jon had to do was strap the overalls over his shoulders. He then grabbed the gun and shot the ground, launching himself right back into his chair, fully dressed.

“It better be a god-damn emergency if I come out there now!” Tallow yelled.

“I’m fine!” Jon yelled back immediately.

Since he was settled, he decided to roll himself out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Outside, he could hear people beside him, so he turned around.

Standing in front of the next door was Cecilia in a group with two other women in dresses. One wore a blue dress that was layered with different types of fabrics and buckles. She was dark-skinned, with long black hair.

The other girl wore a green outfit. She had blonde hair, but it only came down to her shoulders and was a lot straighter and simpler than Cecilia's.

Cecelia had talked to her compatriots until she caught Jon out of the corner of her eye.

“Hi…” Jon slowly raised his hand.

Cecilia saw him, but didn’t immediately respond.

Eventually, the other two girls turned around as well.

They seemed to whisper while he was there.

“Sister!” A man with tanned skin and wearing the same blue coloring as one of the girls walked up to her. “We should go.”

When he noticed the others staring at Jon he decided to take a look as well.

Jon meekly waved.

“Well met,” the man said.

“...I think that’s a farmer.” The girl in the green dress said.

“That’s what I said,” Cecilia commented. “That’s Hector’s friend.”

Jon watched as the girls talked about him. The boy in blue then grabbed his sister by the arm and they walked away, leaving Cecilia and the girl in green walked up to Jon.

“Hi,” Jon said for the third time, not knowing what to expect.

“I didn’t catch your name the last time,” Cecilia said.

“I’m Jon.” He nodded. “You’re… Celia.”

“Cecilia. But I guess it would be hard to say such a word in your native… I don’t know.”

Cecilia was a name Jon hadn’t seen on the farm.

“Have you seen Hector lately?” she asked him.

“Yeah,” Jon replied.

“...Do you know where he is?”

“No,” Jon answered.

“He’s a farmer, not a compass,” the girl in green said, rolling her eyes. “You should really get past that boy.”

“I can’t,” Cecilia said. “He’s too sweet. He used to come to me and help me spar when his sister was too busy with other things. He may not look it, but he’s so gentle and caring, even when he doesn’t know it.”

Jon agreed. Hector didn’t look gentle or caring. Jon still believed Hector had the capacity of being so, however.

“How is Charlotte, by the way?” Cecilia asked the green girl. Jon decided to think of her as green girl from now on.

“She’s fine,” the green girl answered. “My parents left her behind for ‘security reasons,’ or so they say.”

She pouted. “I’m sure my father thinks that having too many of them in one place is comparable to tossing a match into a room of kindle.”

“It’s Macy who’s the issue,” Cecilia responded. “She’s always causing trouble, making enemies and whatnot. Charlotte would probably be the one to calm them down.”

“You know Hector’s sister?” Jon asked suddenly.

“Which one?” the green girl asked. “Oh, you mean Charlotte. Yeah, Charlotte’s the lady-in-waiting for my older sister in Cherryton, who’s not here because she’s already got a groom planned for her. Although despite her official post, she’s really the family bodyguard. She should have really been here.”

“I wish she could watch me kick that Highlander’s butt!” Cecilia yelled, raising her hand and mimicking several stabbing motions. Jon wondered what imaginary weapon she was using.

“Aw please, Cecilia, Charlotte has more important things to do than watch you reenact old training exercises in that dusty ring,” the green girl responded. “You haven’t had a real opponent in years.”

“I train with all of Daddy’s men!” Cecilia said with glee.

“Yeah, that’s why they all go easy on you.” the green girl shook her head.

The door behind Jon suddenly opened.

“Are you guys waiting to clean my laundry or something?” Tallow asked as she stepped out in her ball outfit.

“I, uh… you’re… the…” Cecilia seemed lost for words.

“Say it,” Tallow said. “Come on, so I can-”

“We all have trouble speaking to foreign dignitaries,” the green girl said quickly, stepping in front of her friend. “We’re stuck inside of our castles most of the time.”

“Ah, someone whose tongue isn’t stuck to the roof of their mouths.” Tallow walked up and fist-bumped her.

“Sherry,” the green girl introduced. “I know, one letter away from lifetime embarrassment.

“Tallow of the sands,” Tallow whispered quickly before stepping back.

“I heard Amalia sneaks out,” Cecilia said, in response to Sherry’s earlier comment.

“Amalia is also within riding distance of every border around,” Sherry explained. “So, she can get away with-”

“Uh, sorry, guys,” Tallow interrupted, “but I have a ball I have to go and pretend to enjoy.”

“Oh, tell me about it,” Cecelia said. “I have to watch my twin brother go and hit on every other princess he isn’t related to.”

“Which is like, not many,” Tallow said.

Sherry snickered at Tallow’s joke, although she stopped when she saw Ceceillia’s sour expression.

“Come on, Celia,” Sherry said. “That’s funny. I suppose we must seem like a mess compared to the Vindazi. They’re so… organized. We’re a bloody mess over here.”

Tallow grabbed Jon’s chair and pushed him forward, the two girls following after. They walked at a casual space as they talked over Jon’s head. Jon didn’t mind, since their voices were lower, and he was glad to just cruise along without rushing.

“It’s not that we’re that much more organized,” Tallow said. “It’s Master this, and Master that. Everyone can’t be a damn master. It’s more so that everyone’s just too busy trying not to starve to death in the desert to worry about who owns how much. It’s either you own sand or more sand. No one cares.”

“You’re funny…” Sherry came over and punched Tallow playfully in the arm.

“And straight,” Tallow added, with a look of concern.

The girl laughed. “Ooh, sounds not used to all of the smooth-talking that goes around in the castle.”

“If you’re talking about all the excessive ball fondling?” Tallow asked. “No, not really. Usually, everyone's trying to stab me, not pretend to be my friend. And I’m starting to prefer the former.”

“We’re all backstabbers here,” Sherry responded. “Just to the proverbial jugular.”

“That’s... front stab… never mind.” Tallow shook her head.

“So,” Cecilia started, changing the subject, “do you and Hector-”

“I’m straight, not blind,” Tallow remarked. “I’m not chasing after that exploding piece of rock. Then again… I dunno.”

Tallow looked up in thought. “I guess he’s kinda cute.”

There was a gasp from Cecilia.

“...And Mallory?” Sherry asked.

“Ehh. Kinda cute.” Tallow shrugged. “All the same really. I don’t know why people care so much here.”

“That’s ‘cause we’re not as free to express our love for people who we fancy,” Sherry explained. “Lest we start a whole war over it… or even a tournament just to prove the political worth of our love.”

She sighed. “Why does love always have to be worth anything? Why can’t it just be love.”

Jon didn’t completely understand it, but he agreed. It sounded nice.

Green girl noticed Jon’s smile.

“See, he gets it!” she rubbed his shoulder. “I’m sure free love is a sure thing on the farm.”

“If Jon cared about love, I’m sure he’d tell you that polygamy’s all the rage in the farm,” Tallow added.

“Really?” Sherry asked, curious.

“Yeah. Farm animals don’t really care about who or what they screw.”

Jon didn’t know what polygamy meant, but he was content with just listening to the conversation.

In fact, it was refreshing listening to Tallow have a casual conversation with others. He could feel Tallow’s hesitancy and defensiveness a lot of the time, but the other women didn’t seem to notice. They either reacted or laughed at any of Tallow’s pointed remarks or criticisms, even agreeing with her at times. It was a lot different than her conversations with Hector and Mercy, who were usually very direct with what they thought, leaving not much else to question. That was probably why Jon preferred them as his company, though.

They soon reached the line of guards at the end of the hallway.

“Ladies! Jon!” Avery did his signature consecutive eyebrow-raising, standing among the line of guards. Jon tried to mimic him.

"Ah!" Avery called. "A natural!"

He and Jon began to share eyebrow raises.

“Ugh, Avery,” Cecilia said. “Let us through!”

“What’s important about that is that you remembered my name,” Avery said. Jon could see the guard next to him roll his eyes. Perhaps he would try that next.

Avery and the other guards stepped aside to let Jon and the girls through.

Jon could see this night, the ball had more than twice the amount of people than before. He saw all sorts of color coordination among the new guests that had made it.

“...He’s so cute,” Sherry said. “I love knights.”

“Really?” Tallow asked. “All of them? At the same time?”

She ignored Sherry’s giggle and Cecilia's horrified expression. “I hope you have earplugs… and a blindfold," Tallow continued. "Especially with that buffoon.”

“So I could miss that hunk?” Sherry asked. “No way.”

“He’s a toothpick!” Tallow responded “But on to better things. This place is pretty crowded, right?”

“Oh, nobody comes the first night,” Cecilia explained. “They all have to come the next day so that they can all appear too important to be able to make it. Not even Lord Luther can scare them enough to make them ignore their own egos.”

Cecilia started twirling her hair around her finger. “My father made sure to have us here partly in due for Luther having his daughter train me… among other favors. But most people don’t like him having to listen to him.

“Why?” Tallow asked. “It doesn’t make sense. If they don’t like the man…”

“They like what he does,” Sherry said. “Luthor is the glue holding-”

‘Blah- blah- blah,” Tallow said. “Doesn’t mean crap. There’s gotta be something.”

“...It would require further information,” Cecilia said. “But-”

She gasped. “Oh no. Brother’s talking to Lysenthia. I have to stop him! Don’t stop on account of me!”

She walked away quickly.

“...I can’t believe that girl loves Hector,” Tallow muttered. “Just… how.”

“...Cecilia… like all of us… has a mask,” Sherry said. “And when Hector’s around… she loses that mask.”

Her lips tightened. “We wish we were all so lucky to not have to wear out masks around here, but order must be kept…

She bowed. “ Please, I must assist Lady Cecilia. May you both have a pleasant evening.”

She set off.

“Huh. A mask.” Tallow nodded with understanding. “But, honestly Jon…”

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him.

“Everyone wears a mask. That’s not just a here thing. Right?”

“Right,” Jon replied. He didn’t understand the concept of a mask. He just wanted to agree with her.

“I forgot that you’re special…” Tallow rubbed his shoulder with her fist. “You don’t wear a mask. But, eventually, what you’ll learn is that who you wear your mask around is a choice that you have to decide. And one you have to-”

She stopped. “Oh no.”

She had spotted Luther and Hector talking to each other.

“He’s asking about Mercy… I’m gonna go talk to him… and if I bring you, I might just piss him off.”

Jon nodded. He agreed. He was impressed that Tallow could seemingly read lips from that far away.

Then again, the first time she met him, she was staring at him far away as well watching his movements.

“Go get some hors d'oeuvres or whatever,” she told him. “I’ll come around to get you when we finish.”

She then left him alone in his chair.

He sat in place, sitting among all of the noise surrounding him, staring mostly at different colors of hips. He felt awkward in the chair, but he also was glad that he didn’t feel more awkward just standing among the crowd. Sitting was much less awkward.

“Jon!” Jon turned as much as he could towards the voice calling.

Liz. She was standing further through the crowd.

He tried to turn the chair.

“Nonsense! I’ll come to you!” She walked up to him, pushing past the others as politely as she could. She made it to his chair just as he finished turning.

“How are you?” she asked him. “You’re… here.”

Jon nodded. He was happy to have a familiar face around.

“Have you been staying here for the duration of these events?”

“Yeah,” Jon answered. He was glad to have a new friend that he met along his journeys since he felt his farm. He was also glad that she was wearing just a variation of what she wore during the mission. It didn’t make him feel as stuck out.

“How astounding. You get to stay in a castle on your travels. Although, I suppose under the circumstances…”

Jon nodded, tight-lipped. He wished it was better as well.

“All I can do is hope for-”

“Sister!”

Liz turned over her shoulder in fear.

Liston was walking through the crowd in the other direction.

“Where art thou- I mean, where are you?” He called.

Jon was gonna wave, but Liz quickly grabbed his chair.

“I suggest we make haste through the crowd!” She said. "To our great escape!"

Jon nodded in agreement.

“This way!” She started pushing Jon through the masses of talking hips.

“Are you hungry?” she asked him as they moved deftly among the people.

“Yeah.” He nodded. He could eat.

“Then we shall depart… to the hors d'oeuvres!”

She made a hard turn to the right. Jon loved how it sounded like they were setting on a grand journey together.

To find out the secret meaning of the hors d'oeuvre.