When she dreamed, she dreamed of her old home. There had been so much she had taken for granted, things she had never paid attention to, and now that they were gone, she missed them dearly. She missed the shock of stepping into the lavation when the water was too hot, the smell of the incense that her mother burned far too much of in the halls. Her dreams were always so simple: she would wake up and she would pull on her skirts and she would go about her day.

As the dream faded, she chased it, forlorn, and she wept when she woke.

After a while, she stopped weeping. And then, a little while later, she stopped dreaming.

–

There was no way to escape the heat. It seemed to emanate not from Zsuzsi but from the walls themselves, as if the lines between the palace and its ruler had ceased to be. No matter how deeply she delved into the palace’s halls or even into the catacombs and basements, it was always hot. When she had leave to go outside, that was no respite either. There were always fires burning on the grounds and their pulsing life beat at her face and back without mercy. Sometimes she took to walking about completely nude, but often the gaze of her “ruler” would linger too long, and in her shame she would at least put on smallclothes.

–

The silence stretched on. Vas could feel him staring, but did not dare peek out from under the blankets. It was hot under there, and their breath made it humid and smelly, but they couldn’t bear the thought of him looking at them. They waited for his footsteps to recede, for the door to close, but he remained.

“Go away,” they tried to say, but their voice failed them. It rose comically high and cracked, and the effort required to force sound from their burning throat was monumental. They shifted their face, trying desperately to find one part of their pillow that was cool. Any respite from this fever was welcome…well, almost any respite.

“Nope.” There was a creak as he lowered himself into a chair.

“I’m not dressed,” they warned him, in an appeal to human squeemishness. The threat of the fact was destroyed by their squeak of a voice.

“I don’t care. I’ve seen you naked before, it’s hardly new.”

They coughed, or tried to. The energy to do so left them halfway, and it tapered off. “Not like…this.”

They didn’t even dare to look at their own body. They could feel the change, a burning pain that surged from their neck to their groin and just continued, pulsing and stretching. They felt wrong and off-balance and sick, and uncertainty kept their gaze from ever straying too far down. The one time they had dared to look, it had been a truly horrible sight. A body in metamorphosis was not a beautiful thing. And if they were disgusted to look at their own body, who knew what he would think of them.

–

It was a staring contest of epic proportions, she was sure. She didn’t have the time or patience, however, to deal with it. She shoved herself between the two without preamble, and glared at them both in turn. Neither were terribly intimidated by her, but Sebastian backed down. Halli was not so easily beaten. He continued to stare over her head until she reached out and shoved at his stomach.

“Settle down, you overgrown puppies,” she said, trying to keep an authoritative tone. “We have a job to do…no, actually, you know what? I have a job to do, and I think you’d both do well to remember I don’t actually need either of you to do it? So, you know, if you wanna keep up this stupid pissing contest, you can do it outside and let me actually get some work done.”

–

Her back ached from sitting in this position so long. The longer she stayed in one place, the more paranoia began to eat at her; maybe this wasn’t a good hiding place after all? Surely she was exposed somehow…what if they could see her? What if that was why they were taking so long? Was this a mistake? Maybe her info was wrong after all…maybe she should have listened to her mentor in this regard. Surely the Lady would not have been wrong about such a thing?

But despite these misgivings, these doubts and fears, Sin knew she was not going to get up any time soon. She was probably going to stay here crouched under this bush until she saw an enemy, even if she had to wait seven weeks to do it. She refused to go back to the Lady with clean blades and nothing to show.

–

He’d never been this far from the palace before. It was…underwhelming at first. Without jewels and marble walls, nothing shone, and the wide, white desert seemed so empty. The moons were the only truly spectacular view, but he saw them all the time, so really what interest did they hold?

His brother did not agree. Impatient, he pointed out the little flowers that grew around boulders, sheltered from the sand and the wind. He began to name constellations, which were often outshone by the palace walls. He listed the names of the animals they saw (or, more likely, heard) and the names of the towns they avoided. It was obvious he saw Tace’s unimpressed attitude as something of a personal affront, and he tried desperately to beat it. He put his life on the line every day to venture outside of the palace, and it hurt him, he knew, to know that his brother was not as taken.