After his first ranked win in the arena Ril and Eren went to the front desk to confirm the win. It turned out that his new rating was fifteen-twenty-six. Not a terribly impressive jump but significant in the overall scheme of things. One thing it did highlight was that it would take many wins to reach the upper echelons in the arena. Supposedly, gaining points would further slow down after the first ten provisional games before his rating is formalized.

The duel had been fun, if a little nerve racking. Ril couldn’t imagine getting directly hit with one of Perin’s empowered arrows. They had penetrated deep into the stone that had made up the structure of the small arena that they had fought in. Luckily, Perin hadn't noticed Ril’s footsteps in the sand as he had snuck around him, and had been utterly fooled by the clone’s antics.

To be perfectly honest, the duel had been very easy. Without being able to see him, Perin’s attacks had all missed. Eren had told him that his Vanish ability was pretty uncommon, and so most people didn’t really have the tools to fight someone like him. That didn’t mean that there weren’t abilities that could pierce the invisibility. According to Eren, powder beasts near the core all developed some form of stealth abilities so many higher level fighters gained an enhanced perception ability that would allow them to detect Ril through Vanish.

Regardless, Ril decided that one duel was enough for the day. For one Ril was tired after his morning practice, not to mention his exertion during the duel itself. During a normal day he would most definitely be able to fight several duels in a day, but for his first day he thought it best to take it easy. Also he really wanted to share his experience with Evelyn. Hopefully she would be finished with whatever had drawn her away from the dorm in the morning and Ril could exposit his experience to her. Maybe they could talk strategy.

Perin had been an unnaturally offensively oriented fighter that Ril had no illusions of defeating without Vanish. Even with the clone, Ril was not sure he would be able to dodge the barrage of arrows that had left Perin’s quiver during their duel. That’s not even talking about his acceleration ability that had allowed him to blur in Ril’s vision.

Luckily, Evelyn had returned by the time that Ril returned to Reluke Hall. Ril burst into her room after a quick series of rapid fire knocks.

“Yo Evelyn! You won’t believe what I did today. I fought in the arena, against this archer whose arrows felt super dangerous! Like the air was screaming as the arrows left his bow. Also I met this smith who traded me for the chromium dust we collected. Oh and I got this new--” Ril said, stumbling over his words.

Ril trailed off, noticing for the first time just how tired Evelyn looked. She was sitting at her desk leaning over a stack of papers, rubbing her temples in slow circles with narrowed eyes. She had dark circles under her eyes that weren’t there yesterday. Even though it was only early afternoon, she looked utterly exhausted.

She looked up from her work as Ril burst into her room. A look of minor surprise on her face as Ril’s words tumbled out of his mouth. Eren entered the room at this point and looked apologetically at Evelyn.

“Apologies, my lady.” She said to Evelyn. Then she turned to Ril reproachfully. “You cannot just barge into the princess’s room without invitation, she is busy and may not have the time for distractions.”

“It’s quite alright, Eren. Thank you, but I needed that.” Evelyn said calmly. She leaned back in her chair, and smiled slightly at Ril. “So Ril, you had a good day?”

“Uhm, yeah. It was fun. The city is nice, but uhm. I don’t want to get in the way. If you are busy I can come by later.” Ril said, hesitant. Evelyn looked almost sick. The dark circles under her eyes looked almost purple. “Maybe I could help you with that ... uhm those papers.” Belatedly, he realized that he probably couldn’t help that much since he wasn’t that skilled at reading or writing. Nor had he ever learned how to manage a nation, but that seemed like a secondary issue at the moment.

Evelyn started to laugh, then winced slightly. She picked a mug of some red drink from the table and carefully sipped from it. “That’s quite alright Ril, thank you for the offer. But please continue with your story. I want to hear about it.” When Ril hesitated, she continued, “Tell you what, I will finish this work today,” she gestured to the papers in front of her. “And tomorrow for lunch, we will go out and you will tell me all about your adventures today.”

“Ok,” Ril said slowly, then perked up, “That sounds great I’ll look forward to it.” He turned to leave the room, but paused at the doorway. Looking back at Evelyn’s seated form he said, “Try to get some sleep, you have shadows under your eyes.”

Evelyn froze, “See you then,” Then she smiled mischievously, “Oh and Ril? Wash your clothes before then, hmm?”

“See you tomorrow!” He laughed, waving over his shoulder.

* * *

The restaurant stood with grand importance on the side of the main street in the inner district. It didn’t dwarf the surrounding buildings, but that was through no fault of its own. The surrounding buildings were massively ornate in their own way. This was the first time that Ril had been in the inner district and all the marble, steel, and glass was disorienting. Everything was huge, towering over him, making his neck stiff from looking up all the time. At least Evelyn found him amusing. Ril didn’t mind. It was a nice change of pace from the dark look that she had held yesterday.

Anyway, the restaurant loomed over them. Before Ril could properly appreciate the grandeur, Evelyn pulled him in, with a giggle.

“So?” Evelyn asked, with a glint in her eye. “What do you think?”

“It seems so ... big.” Ril said in awe. The entire inner district had made him feel this way, not just the restaurant.

“I knew you’d love it.” Evelyn said.

Quickly, they were seated at a private section of the restaurant. Above them a starry night sky was painted on the ceiling. The little blue stars seemed to twinkle with almost life-like realism. The entire section of the restaurant had a night theme. Dark blue curtains were painted to look like flowing clouds over on the horizon. At their feet, the smooth tiles were artfully cut, and arranged to give the feeling of standing over a peaceful sea. The room wasn’t completely separate from the rest of the restaurant but the dividing walls gave the impression of privacy.

“Wow, who made this place?” Ril asked. He slowly sat in the chair that was offered to him, mostly focusing on the beautiful artwork that surrounded them. Even the table was carved elegantly, complementing the night sky.

“Most of the inner city was built before the calamity. That’s why you see all the marble and glass. It was in fashion to build using the stones quarried from Whiterock.” Evelyn said. A waiter materialized out of thin air and placed a menu in front of each of them. Then the waiter filled wine glasses in front of them with a slightly yellow clear liquid that looked an awful lot like white wine except it had tiny silver motes floating gently through its depths. As suddenly as he had come the waiter disappeared. “Whiterock is now behind the Fringe, so the outer districts are built mostly using the wood from the edge of the Dread Thicket.”

“How come we didn’t see lumberjacks carting wood from the Dread Thicket when we were coming here?” Ril said idly as he perused the menu. There were numerous dishes that seemed utterly outlandish. It seemed that monster meat was in vogue, with numerous dishes that contained the stuff. “Also, what is this stuff?” He directed the last question towards the sparkly wine glass.

“It’s infused wine,” she laughed while taking a sip from her own glass. “Try it. You might like it. We took a roundabout route. It’s not surprising we didn’t run into a caravan.”

Ril lifted the glass and took a tentative sip. He had never much understood the appeal of alcohol. To him it just tasted bitter at best, and sour at worst. He wasn’t an aficionado, so he wasn’t expecting much from the glass. However when the first drop of liquid touched his tongue, he was pleasantly surprised. The flavor was...ok. Typical of a fine vintage, and therefore not particularly impressive to Ril. However, there was an aftertaste that Ril found riveting. As he swished the wine in his mouth, he received little pinpricks of warmth and lightning. After ten seconds the strange sensation disappeared, and Ril swallowed.

“Hmm, it’s...sparky” Ril said, moving his numb tongue around to try and bring the feeling back into it.

“Sparky! Ha!” Evelyn exclaimed, “Never heard it described that way. Anyway, what would you like to eat? They have everything here.”

“Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t think monster meat could be prepared in so many different ways.” Ril replied, before gently placing the menu back onto the table with distaste. “Hey Evelyn? Could you order for me?”

“Sure, I can do that,” She said smiling, “Also call me Eve. All my friends call me that.”

“Like Gemma does?” Ril replied in relief at not having to parse the menu to find something edible.

“Yeah, it’s the name I use when I am not acting as Princess Evelyn von Artorius of the Silver Spires.” She rolled her eyes, before looking down at her own menu and quickly choosing something suitable. She took Ril’s menu and lifted both hers and his menu into the air. Fast as could be, a waiter appeared to collect the menus, then he leaned down so that Evelyn could tell him their order.

“Do you not like being the princess?” Ril asked.

“No, it’s a necessary position, and there are plenty of perks to the position.” She gestured vaguely to the room they were sitting in. “I just need a break from it every once in a while,” Then she smiled brightly, “and your company is perfect for that.”

“I am glad to be of service!” Ril snorted. “But what is so hard about being a princess? Surely a bunch of paperwork isn’t too much for you?”

“Of course not,” Eve said, releasing a decidedly unladylike snort in response. “It’s not the paperwork that’s the problem. It's all the scheming, no good nobles that make it difficult.”

“Why? What did they do?” Ril asked.

“It’s not really what they did, more like what they refuse to do.” She said exasperated. “It’s like herding cats. Cats that actively don’t like you and are more than happy to bite you whenever they get the chance.”

The waiter returned carrying a platter with two delicately appointed plates of food. He placed them carefully in front of each of them, before retreating. Ril had a steak with silver marbling, soaked in a light brown gravy surrounded by leafy vegetables. Some powder beast probably.

He lifted his utensils and cut a small portion from the steak. When he put it in his mouth he winced. It tasted wonderful, but it was like eating a live coal. Like the wine but much more intense. Spikes of fire stabbed into his tongue and cheeks, before slowly fading. Eyes watering, he glanced at Eve who was savoring her first bite of a similar meal.

“It’s good isn’t it?” she said, expectantly.

Ril nodded mutely before swallowing the fiery lump. “Yeah,” he choked, “just a little hot.”

“Wimp.” She said with a grin, popping another slice of meat into her own mouth before chewing animatedly.

“You got me.” Ril smiled weakly. This time he stabbed a leaf and put it in his mouth.

Ahh, much better.

The leaf crunched in a satisfying way and released cool liquid onto his scalded tongue. Ril decided that he appreciated the fact that the leaf didn’t decide to wage an active war in his mouth, such a thing was not to be taken for granted in the inner city.

“So what? The nobles are being troublesome. Aren’t you the princess though? Can’t you just tell them to suck it and do whatever you think is right?” Ril said.

“It doesn’t work like that. But I mean, that’s not really why it’s hard.” She sighed. “Or I guess not really. The people want someone else on the throne once my father dies. They are saying that I am not fit to rule. They want a strong warrior to ascend after my father. Someone from the Peregrine, or Glotz families. Or even Aurius. That just makes the nobles start circling like a pack of vultures.” She sighed again. Listlessly moving the vegetables on her plate around. “Makes me feel unwanted. That all my hard work is not worth anything. They want someone else, despite all that I’ve done to prepare and succeed. Who am I to ascend against their wishes?”

Ril froze. Then continued munching faster. “Does this have to do with the assassination attempt that we stopped at the edge of the Dread Thicket?”

“Maybe, probably, but there is no proof that the nobles hired the assassins. For all we know it was a group of unhappy citizens who did it.”

“Who but the nobles could afford to hire well trained assassins to kill the princess of the realm? While she is protected by a Guardian and the best Eliminator in Anduin, no less.” Ril retorted.

“That’s not the point. Sure we can suspect all we want, but without concrete proof acquired legitimately we can’t do anything in a court of law.”

“If they are allowed to use assassins and be outside of the law, why can’t we? We should just go to these nobles, Glotsk and the rest, and send them a message. I don’t know, break into their house. Rough them up or something. Teach them that you are the princess and that they can’t hire assassins on you without consequences.” Ril said, his voice rising an octave.

Eve’s eyes darkened. “No Ril, that is not how we operate. Without law, this kingdom is no better than the untamed lands controlled by the powder beasts.”

“But they are getting away with trying to kill you!”

“Doesn’t matter, I will not be the one to send this kingdom into anarchy. The nobles exist to protect the common folk. If an assassination war breaks out, there will chaos. The people will suffer. They will starve.”

Ril silently picked at his food. The meat didn’t get any easier to eat after subsequent bites. Each time it burned on entry and going down. After a few more bites he gave up and just munched on the salad.

“This place is not worthy of you.” Ril muttered. “You are suffering for the people and they don’t even want you. You should just leave. Go back to Gemma. If the people here are so hellbent on their own destruction, let them fall.”

Eve stayed silent. Chewing her meal with staunch determination. Studiously focusing on her plate. Then she gave herself a little shake. She lifted her head from her meal, to look at Ril who was still looking to his plate with a sullen look on his face.

“Alright, enough of that. Tell me about your day yesterday. You went to the arena right? Who did you fight? Tell me everything.” She said, a slightly forced grin on her face.

Ril let out a breath he hadn’t even realized that he had been holding. Then he dropped his fork, abandoning the unpleasant meal and smiled, regaining his normal exuberance. “Yesterday was great. The city is so big! Eren and I started the day off by trading the chromium dust to this strange smith. Man was he scary...”