After their decisive victory over Orinovo, Lys-Akkaria's army crosses the border to take back territory that used to be theirs. With the combined forces of a lightweaver and shadowforger, Orinovo doesn't stand a chance.
In spite of their newfound a...
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Ainreth really, really wanted to spend the next month at least drunk in whichever tavern would take him.
The rumors had been true. Varilik really had decided to steal Fenn from Ain. And it was sort of obvious that had been his plan all along, wasn't it? Who kissed an acquaintance on the cheek randomly? Who invited them to get a drink in the middle of the night and then let them sleep in the tent that only had one bedroll in it?
And now there was no doubt Fennrin was well and truly on the Herald's side. Fenn wouldn't get together with him if he didn't agree with him on core issues.
It made Ainreth sick to think about it all. But he couldn't stop.
The problem with that was that Petre wasn't letting him get drunk enough to forget about his troubles.
"Something bad is going to happen," Petre said after successfully wrestling Ainreth's wine bottle away from him.
Ain had mostly let them win this one, not having the strength to fight in any way, but he was still annoyed. "Something awful already happened."
Petre sighed, rubbing their eyes. "Ain, you need to pull yourself together. Varilik is planning something. We don't know what yet, but there's a lot of tension."
"There's a lot of tension in here, too," Ainreth grumbled, not really listening. If he couldn't drink, he wanted to go sleep. Ideally forever.
But before he could even think to go do that, Petre grabbed him by his shirt and shook him, making Ain blink at them in shock.
"Get it together, Ain," Petre snapped, scowling up at him as they let go off his shirt. Ainreth blinked some more. Petre had never been this proactive in getting him to shut up and stop being an idiot. "There have already been attacks on people with Orinovan ancestry."
Ain immediately frowned, his eyes wide with concern. "No one dared hurt you, right?"
Petre sighed as Ain checked them over for any injuries or bruises. "No. And even if someone tried, I can handle myself. But not everyone here is a soldier."
Ainreth rubbed his eyes. He had to give it to Petre. This was making him care about the situation, but he couldn't say he was feeling any less depressed now.
"So because some random Orinovan tried to kill Varilik, people are immediately using it as an excuse to harass others?"
Petre let out a tired breath. "Yes." They narrowed their eyes. "The Herald is planning something. That's why I need you to pull yourself together and help us."
Ainreth nodded, letting out a sigh. He was so emotionally exhausted. But Petre was right. This was going to get worse before it got better. He had shut out everything and everyone enough that he'd completely missed what had been happening over the last few days.
He couldn't say he was surprised, though. The moment people had an easy target for their frustrations and fears, they took it. Especially if they were a whole group.
