A few weeks after my meeting with Mystien dad called me up to his office after dinner. That was a bit odd, and I knew it was probably something personal, but if it was important it was important. He sat down behind his desk, looking mixed between nervousness and resolve, with perhaps a bit of pity mixed in.

"Alana, we're going to have to talk."

I took a spot in one of his chair and locked eyes with him. "About what?"

"Lord Durin's wedding. It is a major event, and you do have to attend, even if you don't want to. I know it may be a burden, but I've tried to ask few things of you since you were found. This though I must."

"Like keeping me locked up for weeks?"

He sighed. "That... was a mistake. I am not perfect dear, and I hope that you will forgive me for that, and for leaving when I should have taken you with me. I admit that I'm not a perfect man, but I have done what I thought would keep you all safe."

That rankled, there were a lot of times when people did 'what they thought would keep me safe' and it turned out awful to me. On the other hand, after his first major blunder, and asking me to keep from stressing mom, he really hadn't asked much.

"I wanted to go anyway, if I was invited. So there's no issue on that account."

I wasn't sure why he was being so weird about this, if I could go, I definitely would. It seemed likely to be the party of the century and there was no way I was missing a boatload of fancy people getting absolutely trashed on the cocktails I introduced.

"Yes, I suspected that you would want to go, but... you'll need an escort. At your age you will need someone to dance with, and the like. Understand Alana, that I rather like Kala, but unfortunately... she isn't an appropriate escort for this event." He picked his words carefully, probably expecting me to explode on him.

He was right to. As he got to his point I felt my jaw clench and I very nearly let loose a scream on him. I hated people getting involved in my personal life, like this particularly, and he was telling me that she wouldn't work, that I had to find some guy? I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes growing from my sheer outrage.

"Did mother..." This seemed like something she'd push, or at least want to push on me.

"No. Your mother had nothing to do with this, and she doesn't know about this conversation." Me going off on her seemed to be an idea that truly worried him. He might know how mad I was, and wanted to avoid a full on family fight. "I'm not telling you you cannot keep seeing Kala, nor that you must begin courting someone. Merely that you must have an escort for this event. You don't have to like them, or have any intention beyond just this wedding. If you don't have anyone in mind or anyone you would prefer, I'll happily arrange something, and I will make it clear to him that this will be only for this occasion."

"I will think on it." I was mad, mad at the world, mad at my father, mad at the fact that I couldn't just do as I wanted.

He didn't stop me as I rose and left his office. I started walking, down the stairs and straight out the front door, the only person who questioned me was at all was a maid in the entry.

"Miss, is all well?" She said as I passed by.

"I am going out." It was curt, but honest, and I did just need to get away from here.

I began walking, I'd always loved going out on the city when I was younger, going to the shops and the eateries, seeing what was where. I didn't know too much of the upper parts of the city sure, but I knew enough, and so I walked. I walked along streets that seldom saw pedestrians, most taking carriages or coaches. Heading down into the lower parts of the city.

I nearly stopped as I came to the academy. It was just on the edge, hanging just between the wealthy parts and those that were much poorer. I'd lived here for two full years now, Kala was here. The last part kept me from going in. I needed to talk to her, but I just didn't know what to say, or how she'd react.

I kept on passing the restaurant that Dras had taken me to that one time, down and past the bookstore where we'd purchased the textbook that had helped both of us on our entrance exam, and where the attack on Lief had happened. I kept going, I looked in the direction of the temple district, but decided to give that a miss.

I walked through markets now closing as the sun set, and deep into the city, down to the place that I'd truly called home for a long time. As The Starlit Sky came into view I felt myself calm. I knew that my parents were a bit apart from me, and that any advice they had would come with ideas of 'what has to be' and 'propriety' and all that nonsense, but Lucien? He'd tell it how it was. If Jackson had stayed in town he'd also have a bit of a take, and one that I knew would be honest.

As I came in I looked around at the people, the decor, the outright noise. It was nice, it was free, the thing I needed to get away from the suffocation around my family and everyone else. There was an open spot at the bar and as I slid in a slightly surprised looking Lucien came over and put a cider in front of me.

"Well look who it is. Been too long, though I'm not surprised to see you here."

"You're not?"

"No, not after that came in." He pointed over to the corner of the room as I slid him a coin for my drink.

Dras sat there looking absolutely awful. It was clear he'd been crying and he even seemed a bit disheveled. My head cleared of my own gripes as I saw him, a friend who clearly needed help.

"What happened?" I asked the bartender as he leaned forward a bit.

"Don't know. He doesn't seem to care to share with me, but perhaps with you he will."

"Alright, mind if I get a rag?" Without a word Lucien passed me a clean cloth.

I took the rag, and my drink and walked over to where Dras was monitoring his mug. It looked like beer, something that I'd never gotten a taste for at all. He didn't even notice me until I plopped down beside him.

"Hey! What's the..." He looked up and saw me. "Oh, hi Alana... Wait, why are you here?"

"I'm having a disagreement with my family, so I'm pissed and wanted a walk, but that can wait. Why do you look like someone burned down your house?"

"I, uh..." He finally took a drink and looked up. "Clarissa broke up with me." He looked for a moment like he might start crying.

I didn't really know his girlfriend, well, ex-girlfriend now I suppose, but he had seemed happy with her. It was hard to feel that bad that she was gone, but it wasn't at all hard to understand loss, and that I should be here for him. So I wet the rag with a quick spell and passed it over.

"Here, clean yourself up and then tell me all about what happened."

He wiped himself down with the rag, which was both ice cold and wet, and began his tale. "After the regime change she just started getting more and more irritated. She was pissed that her family were no longer nobles, that they'd lost a lot of their money and lands, the works."

"Kinda understandable."

"Yeah, I'd feel bad about that too, but they all made it through, and they were making it work. It just changed her, she got all bitter, and even got mad when I mentioned that I might end up working for the new government after it all settled down. Our graduation is soon, and it's just gotten worse and worse. Then she started blaming other people, the new leaders, the army... you..."

"Also not uncommon."

"Right. I told her to quit it, that you'd had nothing to do with the war, but she just got pissed at that. In the end she told me that if I wasn't willing to cut all ties with the new regime that she'd be gone, and when I tried to talk to her... She just called me a traitor and left, told me not to contact her again."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah, and then when I went to mom for help, she just got mad. She'd liked Clarissa a lot, and thought that we'd end up married and blah, blah, blah."

"Moms can be like that sometimes." A fact I was feeling a bit myself.

"Yeah, so that's it. What's your big mess?"

"Short version?" He nodded as I looked at him. "Dad wants me to go to a wedding and to have an escort. He told me that Kala wouldn't do. I've no clue what I'm going to do, or how I'll explain it to her."

He leaned back, just covering his face with the cold rag. "That is... rough. I do not envy you that at all."

I waited for a few moments to see if he'd say anything else, but he didn't. "You know, a lot of guys would have taken that as an invitation to volunteer."

I heard a snort from under the rag. "You don't want me to. We've never had that kind of a relationship and it would just piss Kala off if we did go together."

"That is one of my favorite things about you Dras. That you get that."

He picked up his mug, still leaning back. "Here's to shit love lives and old friends." We clinked glasses, another thing that transferred between worlds, and he drained his without even sitting up, a rather impressive feat.

"Better now?" I asked.

"You know, yeah, a bit." He sat up, and while his face was still a bit off, he did look much improved. He had a sort of off smile on now. "You?"

"Not as bad either. You know what you need?"

"Lots of things."

"To get some."

"Didn't we just have this conversation?" He looked at me with a bit of a frown.

"Not with me idiot. Come on."

We left our table after I'd checked that he'd paid and headed back into the street. There were dozens of 'establishments' around here and the variety was almost daunting. I led him along to one of the nicer ones and we went in.

I'd never been in one of these before and the atmosphere was certainly... different. There was an older woman at a desk in the entry and she gave me a raised eyebrow as I pulled Dras along after me.

"Alright, I'm just guessing, but I'm pretty good at that, and you are too young." She looked at me harshly as she spoke.

"You're right, but we're not here for me. My nice friend here just had a really bad day." I put several small silver coins on her counter. "Can you find someone to improve his mood?"

"This is not a solution." The objection came from behind me, but I didn't look.

"I can, if that's what he wants." She looked back at him. "But you seem unconvinced. How about a bath and massage and you see where it goes?"

Dras rubbed his chin as I gave him a questioning look. "Well, a bath doesn't sound horrid, nor does a massage... I suppose it won't hurt."

I hoped he felt better by morning, regardless of where it went. Later on I would muse that I never did find out how far he had gone that night, he never told me, and I never asked.