No way. Of the roughly two hundred mages in their class, only one had red hair.

He paused for a moment trying to decide what to do. Is there really a reason to think about it?

Taking a deep breath, he started walking toward her. About halfway, he saw Katayoun stand from her crouching position, then turn around.

His breath caught in his throat. This was the first time during the evening he’d seen her close up. Women from Mannemid to Sin-Amuhhu liked to arrange their hair in tightly curled and oiled braids, but Katayoun was different. Her hair was bound by a bronze tiara, and had two loose braids on either side of the head, with the rest of her locks tumbling around her like flowing lava.

She wore a tightly-fitting inner dress of violet and pale blue brocade, with a golden fringe. Over it was a golden outer garment with violet fringe. She had golden bands around her upper arms, bracelets around her wrists, and rings on fingers and toes alike. The curve of her bosom was hinted at by the tightness of her dress, but what really drew Xerxes in was her makeup.

The female mages weren’t allowed to wear makeup while attending classes or doing training. But tonight, they had all painted their faces.

Katayoun’s eyelids were a violet as brilliant as the fabric of her garment, accented by a dramatic, winged line of black going all the way to her temples. Her lips were a lavender color that took his breath away, and most eye-catching of all was how her face sparkled as if it were composed of infinite diamonds.

He stopped short a few paces from her, having unwittingly allowed his jaw to drop.

It took a fraction of a moment for him to realize that her eyes were glistening. Not her eyelids and other parts of her face, but her actual eyes.

She’s crying, he thought. Or she’s about to.

When they made eye contact, she gasped slightly and took half a step back.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just… I saw you over here… I was thinking you might need—”

“I lost something,” she said, her voice trembling in what seemed to be desperation. A small handkerchief appeared, previously concealed in her right hand, which she used to dab at her eyes. And then she looked away from him to scan the ground around her.

“You lost something…?” he said. He immediately cursed himself for repeating her words back at her.

“My earring,” she said as she subconsciously fingered her left earlobe. Looking at it, he saw the distinct lack of any jewelry there.

Tearing his eyes away from her, he also scanned the ground around them. “What’s it look like?” he said. “I’ll help you find it.”

“It’s a pearl in a silver setting. Nothing amazing, but my grandmother gave it to my mother, and she gave it to me, and I wore it for the first time tonight because I thought it would be good to have it on a special night, but I never thought it would just fall off, I mean I was careful, but when I went to freshen up and came back it was gone, and if it’s really lost then I might as well have just betrayed my entire family, and I don’t know what I’ll do, I mean, I’m just going to have to—”

“Hey,” he interrupted gently, and she finally looked up and into his eyes.

“W-what…?” she stammered.

He took a step forward and reached out with the intention of touching her shoulder. But it felt wrong, so he closed his hand and extended his index finger straight up. “Listen,” he said, emphasizing his words with his finger. “We’re going to find the earring. Okay?”

She blinked and used the handkerchief to prevent any tears from ruining her makeup. “Okay.”

“You and me, got it? Now, do you remember anything that might give a clue when it fell off?”

“I remember touching it when I walked out of the dining hall,” she said. “But after that… no.”

“Okay. Did you already look behind the vases?”

“No….”

He tilted his head to the side and gave her a ‘seriously?’ look. “Well, that seems like a good place to start. I’ll check this side—” he gestured at the vases on the right side “—and you do the other side. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

He stepped over to one of the nearby vases and knelt as best he could without touching his knees to the ground, which would have sullied his robe. He peered at the shadowy area behind the vase, but couldn’t see a thing, so he swept his hands on the marble floor. They immediately became caked with dust.

Ugh, he thought. Don’t they ever clean behind here? This is Sin-Amuhhu, for the Monad’s sake!

After checking thoroughly behind the vase, he looked at his dusty hands, then his brand new robe. With nowhere to wipe his hands, he smacked them against each other to get some of the dust off, then moved to the next vase. Along the way, he glanced over at Katayoun to see her using her toe to probe the shadowy area behind her vase.

The second of the vases didn’t have an earring behind it. Nor did the third.

A group of Seers walked through the hallway around then, two young men supporting a third between them who looked completely drunk.

The fourth vase had no earring. But the fifth did.

“Got it!” he yelled, a lot louder than he intended, as he held the piece of jewelry between his thumb and forefinger and stood up.

The group of three Seers who’d just walked past paused and looked back at them.

“Carry on!” Xerxes shouted as Katayoun hopped toward him excitedly.

“You really found it?” she said.

“Unless someone else lost a pearl earring,” he said, extending it toward her.

“Thank the Pontifarch,” she said. After looking at it closely, she tucked it into her garment. “Well, I’m not going to put it on again, I can tell you that.” Seemingly for the first time, she looked him in the eye. “You… look familiar.”

“I’m Xerxes,” he said, trying to put on the flashiest grin he could manage.

“Xerxes,” she replied. “Well, thank you for this. I’m not going to forget it. I’m Ka—”

“Katayoun,” he said, interrupting her.

Her brow furrowed and she looked at him with a strange expression. “Oh, we’ve met?”

Idiot, he screamed at himself. You sound like some sort of creep! Wait. I actually have met her!

“Remember that thing with the soup last week?”

She thought for a moment, then laughed. “That was you?”

“I hate to admit it, but… yeah.”

“Okay. Xerxes, Xerxes, Xerxes. I’ll remember.” She gave him another long look. “Well as I said, I won’t forget this. You saved my life.” And she leaned forward and hugged him.