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Things settled down a lot after that. Kat split her time between practicing dangerous water morphing, and hanging out with Sylvie until bed time, then hanging out with Lily after Sylvie had gone to sleep. Lily in mostly the same vein split her time between hanging out with Sylvie, hanging out with her parents, practicing her shadow magic, and spending time with Kat late at night. After the talk with Evaline Lily had been considering her relationship with Kat a bit more deeply… but she still felt no need to get things moving just yet. Perhaps one day, but Lily knew it just wasn't the time yet. 

Lily was quite grateful for Kat's asexuality. It meant that she didn't need to worry about how long it took. Kat had no desire for that sort of thing, so there was no pressure on Lily's mind, worrying about waiting too long and causing a rift to form between the two of them. As such, Lily decided to just, leave it be. Perhaps she would need that push Evaline seemed worried Lily would abuse, but Lily felt that it might just be for the best if she did. For now, Lily was silent on the matter, but a bit more appraising of Kat when she looked, and more affectionate… in human form. In Memphis form nothing really changed considering she spent so much time sleeping on Kat in that form already. 

When Friday came and went without being summoned, Kat was a bit surprised, but shrugged it off. If demons didn't want to send her anywhere, she wasn't going to complain. It just meant she could spend more time practicing or with Sylvie. It wasn't until Monday morning Kat saw that burning circle. Lily was woken up, and put in her backpack… promptly falling asleep again, and Kat went around the house saying her goodbyes before standing on the circle and letting herself by whisked away. 

When Kat stepped out at the other end, she found Nixilei by herself with the smell of salt in the air. Kat looked around and saw they were on the edge of a cliff near the ocean with a town visible down below. It was a bit strange to be summoned in the middle of nowhere, and with just Nixilei, so Kat felt the need to ask, "Hey Nixilei, how are you doing? Where is everyone?" 

"I am fine, thank you for asking," said Nixilei, before pausing a few moments. "As for the rest of the group… they are not as well. Sadly, it is nothing physical so I cannot simply heal away their injuries," 

"So… want to talk about it?" asked Kat. 

"I suppose I will have to," said Nixilei with a sigh. "It is why I walked so far away to summon you, to give me time to go over things before we reached the others. Being so far away from town also gives us a good excuse to be late, if that's what it takes," Nixilei turned away from Kat and gestured over her shoulder for Kat to follow. There was a fairly well marked path of stones that looked like they'd lead them down the mountain. 

"I'm a bit surprised that you left Green on her own. Not that she can't take care of herself of course… but you've always been a bit… protective," said Kat. 

Nixilei scoffed, "As if you aren't twice as bad with Lily. Did she manage to transform yet?" 

"Yup! Lily can swap freely now, and she's just managed to touch on Rank 2 magic. Still sleeps most of the time though," said Kat. 

Nixilei laughed, though her smile looked pained, "It's good to hear that some things are not so easily changed. As for why I feel ok leaving Green alone… this is an important port. The enforcers here are always on the watch for troublemakers, and the rest of my group promised not to leave their room… not that I believe they would at the moment…"

Kat inclined her head when Nixilei trailed off, "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to…" 

"No… no I should. It is something that you will likely be told, and it is not a secret to anyone anymore. It has to do with Gareth's great, grandfather. He passed away. No foul play is suspected, but it is not an auspicious time. Additionally Gareth, Green and Kress were quite close with the man. Still… that's not the real issue. Torston, that was the man's name, was a pretty major political player even in his old age. Though he wasn't expected to leave for any longer than another twenty years. As I said, he is old, was old, and his death, though sad, wasn't a surprise. 

"No the real surprise is that he passed away before Green and Gareth could be married. He was a big part of what made that possible… and with his passing… there is some… contention with their union. It's not particularly clear at the moment if it will become a real concern… but if things start to look bleak, it might be too late to act.

"Kress has recovered… mostly, but Green and Gareth… their emotions are running high at the moment. They're both quite sad, but they're also angry at the situation, and they're pushing for different things. Green is of the opinion that they should be seriously trying for a child. It would give them an excuse to push the wedding up, and quite efficiently block any political pressure by pointing out the fact she was pregnant…

"But it would mean that Green could no longer participate in the tournament, and with us already in the second last round… giving up just before the finals essentially? It would leave a bad taste in quite a number of mouths, and potentially cost both of their families a lot of political capital. While it will be seen as acceptable for them to marry quickly after Green's pregnancy, it will also be seen as an honourless and cowardly way to avoid losing in the final round of the tournament. Regardless of what their actual chances are…"

Kat bit her lip. *That's… really not a great situation. Wait shit. Lily should probably be awake for this. LILY GET UP. IMPORTANT NEWS.* 

[What?]

Kat quickly pushed her memories of the recent conversation at Lily. 

[Oh…]

Kat swallowed, and spoke, once Lily seemed caught up. "So that's what Green wants to do… but based on the fac they're arguing… Gareth has other ideas?" 

Nixilei nodded, "Indeed. Gareth is instead pushing for the opposite. That they should pull themselves together, train their asses off, and win the tournament. It would give them the political capital to tell everyone to 'fuck off' to put it in crude language. They would have a proven track record of skill, their teamwork would be without reproach, and we would prove that nobility from both races could work together to achieve victory in a very important tournament. 

"Gareth is also, arguing, rightly so, that even if he and Green were… actively and enthusiastically attempting to have a child… it might still take not months but YEARS of effort for them to actually conceive a child. It means that Green's plan is just as risky as Gareth's 'just win it all' idea, if in a different way. So now they're arguing about it…

"Though I think a lot of it is just to have someone to yell at. They both feel rather hopeless at the moment. Torston's death… despite being expected still hit them hard. Torston had his affairs in order quite well… but still, with politics being what it is… I can't say what's going to happen. It might not even be a likely risk that anyone will even attempt to come between them… but well… it's hard to say, and I'm not kept up to date quite as often as some other spies due to my close proximity with Green."

Kat nodded, "Right. Um… though… um… hmm… hopefully this doesn't sound rude… but you seem remarkably okay with Torston's death… is there a reason for that?" 

Nixilei giggled slightly as she hopped down three stone stairs in rapid succession, "Ah, I take no offence. It's a remarkably simple reason actually. Torston's wife was assassinated you see. He ripped the assassin in half after he caught her, but well… she was a fey assassin, and about as famous a spy as it gets. 

"He never took that distaste out on me, and the whole reason a fey was sent was because Torston was trying to build bridges with the fey… but it does mean that he has no love for my profession, and was rather cold to me as a result. As he was one of the main voices support Green and Gareth's union I could leave Green alone with him without much fear. So I didn't have much to do with him, and what little I did have… was… stilted," 

"Ah… that's well it's not good but it's understandable," said Kat.