Lars was rather sick of having a broken heart. He was sick, in general, of the entire thing.

And now Rhen liked Master Harald.

He was having difficulty adjusting to this. Well, of course he was having difficulty adjusting! Anyone in the world would!

And now he supposed he’d have to encourage her or something, in her bizarre, bizarre…

Honestly he’d have assumed she was joking. But she’d been blushing bright red as she said it and he’d seen that blasted blush of hers in the past. Stupid Rhen and her stupid transparent expressions, he was utterly, thoroughly sick of seeing her feelings for guys that were not him, written like royal proclamations across her face.

Master Harald. Master Harald! Was she utterly mad?!?

No. No. There was absolutely no way he would even pretend to be slightly supportive of this stupid, stupid-

Why the hell did she find it easier to fall for an octogenarian with all the emotional range of a dead fish than for him?

He was over-reacting. It was a stupid crush of hers. She’d get over it in weeks, at the most. Days, maybe. There was absolutely no way Master Harald would reciprocate- his brain shut down at the thought- and so she would realize as soon as she came out of whatever daze she was in that she didn’t really like the guy at all.

Like a father! He should have asked her if maybe she really liked Master Harald like a father! Then she could have looked utterly abashed before finally admitting that now that she thought about it, that was definitely the case. He wouldn’t even have to be worrying about it anymore.

He groaned.

He definitely needed a mental health break.

And so when the invitation from Hector arrived, he accepted without a second thought.

---

Bad idea. Bad, bad, bad idea, he thought, for the seventieth time that evening. But it was no use, he couldn’t go back in time and tell his past self that if there was something he wanted to do to distract him from Rhen and her absurdities, it was not the stupid little dinner party Hector was hosting.

But then again, how could he have known that Ylitta was going to be there?

(Okay, so she was engaged to Hector, but…)

Or that within five minutes of settling down to eat she would fixate on one topic, and one topic only?

“And then he ran after that dirty little slave girl for over a year! All around the world!” She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Lars forced a polite smile, but it was a bit difficult to achieve when he was gritting his teeth so hard he thought they might just be worn away.

Hector looked up lazily from the dripping piece of meat he was busy tearing apart.

“Whazzat, Lars? You’re hanging out with dirty little peasants, now?”

“Nooo, Hector,” Ylitta whined, “didn’t you listen to what I just said? It’s even worse than that, he’s been clinging to that dirty little slave girl-“

“She’s not a slave anymore,” Lars said, stiffly.

“Oh, please,” Ylitta said airily, “once a slave, always a slave. It’s in their blood, you know, the slimy little things.”

“Actually to be in their blood it would have to be something you could inherit and since Rhen actually came from a free-born family- specifically, a royal one- you couldn’t really say that-”

“Oh, Lars, you’re simply hysterical! A slave from a royal family! That’s one of the most amusing things…” She trailed off.

“One second. You’re serious?”

Hesitantly he nodded, unnerved by the look in her eyes.

“You… actually… Lars, this little delusion of yours has gone too far.” She looked at him, pityingly. “I think you need help.”

“I- I need help?” He spluttered. “I don’t need help more than you, you narrow-minded little-“

“I don’t mind your insults in the slightest,” Ylitta said, “as you are clearly not entirely yourself, Lars, but have no fear. For the sake of our old friendship I think it has come the time to put an end to this.”

“Put. Put an end to?” He said incredulously, so angry he could barely get the words out.

“Now, now,” Hector said, sonorously, from his end of the table. “Do let us talk about the weather.”

Ylitta, delighted, began to describe the agony she had gone through debating going out with a shawl or not, just in case there might be a breeze or perhaps too much sun.

Lars prayed for the meal to end.

----

He staggered back to his apartment in a haze of headache and irritation. He was impressed that he had managed to escape without killing anyone. That homicide was a crime punishable by death seemed hardly a deterrent, by the time he was done politely pushing Ylitta’s poached pears around his plate.

But as he reached the apartment door he paused. Oh right, he’d left some books back at the school…

He staggered miserably off again. Stupid books. Stupid Ylitta. Stupid world.

The doors to the Academy were never locked. In part because no one would be stupid enough to try entering unallowed, in part because theoretically everyone was allowed in anyway. But the doors were closed at night, and they creaked as he pushed them open. It took both hands, as they were solid, imported oak.

At night the school was eerily empty and quiet. From the headmaster’s office came the sound of deep breathing- the headmaster always slept on school grounds- but from several feet away you could hear nothing, nothing at all, as you wandered with practiced ease through the winding hallways and the echo of your footsteps became suddenly, disconcertingly, matched by a similar and yet discordant echo-

“Lars!” Rhen exclaimed, as they both rounded the same corner in opposite directions.

“Rhen,” he said, dully.

“I had trouble falling asleep,” she said.

“Fancy that.” Lars said.

“I know, I never have that problem, but… In any case I actually came back here hoping you might show up so we could practice or something. But I was leaving just now- I realized there was no way you’d possibly still be here- and now here you are! …Why are you here, anyway?”

“Books,” he muttered.

She had grabbed his hand and was already dragging him off to god-knew-where—well, all right, it was almost definitely going to be there training ground— but now she stopped to look at him in concern.

“Lars?” She said, waving her hand in front of his face. “You there?”

She pressed the back of her hand against his forehead. “Are you okay?”

He flicked it away, irritably. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“Someone with a brain the size of a pea, happened. Then a headache happened. Then you happened,” he added, which was both a bit mean and chronologically inaccurate. Rhen had happened quite a long time before tonight.

“So… you’re not in the mood to practice, I take it?” She said, slowly.

“No,” he said, wearily. “Which is to say, no, I’m willing to practice now. If anything I’d appreciate the distraction.”

“I dunno,” she said, doubtfully. “You look a bit… Maybe you should sit down. Do you want a glass of water?”

“I thought you don’t get me drinks,” he said. Really, he was being rather nasty tonight.

She winced. “Well. Not when you ask for them. But if I offer…”

“Water would be nice,” he said, cutting her off. It wasn’t like there was any point to bringing it up again.

Things were always a little bit bruised between them, he thought, watching her hurry off to the nearest fountain. He settled onto a stone bench, off to the side of one of the center halls. Lights flickered on in the lamps as he passed. Things were always just a little bit tender and sensitive. That was the whole damn problem. And then she’d go off and do things like-

Like come back proudly bearing a cup of water, grinning like she’d just looted a load of diamonds-

And he’d forget, for a moment. It was stupid. He was stupid.

“You can just sit and drink, and I’ll practice my forms,” she said, a little giddily, as he began to rise from his seat.

Because even half-rising had brought back the headache- and made, temporarily, his vision go dark and blurry- he nodded instead.

And she stood in the center of the room and flexed her shoulders and stretched her legs and rotated her arms side to side, and then…

Lars, like all sorcerers, has pride. Pride in Sorcery, that was. There was a general rivalry between the two groups, sorcerers and swordsingers, a rivalry that was subtly or not-so-subtly egged on by the adults, so that the children in turn grew up into adults who continued the chain into perpetutity.

Sorcery was more intelligent, more efficient, more effective, then swordsinging. It involved less running about. It was not as crippled by the lack of an effective weapon. It was altogether superior to swordsinging in pretty much every way.

But.

But as Rhen began to move, with rapid, fluid motions, as she danced across the flagstone floor-

There was one thing sorcerers, casting magic in taut, tightly-controlled movements of wand or staff, could never achieve.

Rhen’s sword cut through the air so fast it sang, as the currents of magic swirled and swooshed around her. She crouched low and sprang and slashed, her braid trailing behind her, loose strands of hair whipping in her face, and she was a terrifying, thrilling, beautiful sight.

She ground to a halt, sword still drawing sparks, and Lars realized he had forgotten to breathe.


---

a/n: I don't know if this is already obvious but I do try to write from a limited 3rd person pov, which means that when i'm writing Lars you're not supposed to be getting an 100% accurate picture of Rhen's feelings at the same time.

I say that only because I wrote this entire scene from Lars's view, then felt that Rhen's actions from Lars's perspective made no sense re:what happened prev chapter, so I re-wrote a section of the scene to give insight on what Rhen was thinking and ultimately decided that I preferred it all Lars, even if it might be confusing. I left subtle hints at what the heck Rhen is thinking, and other than that she'll maybe offer slightly more clarification in the next chapter.

It's still good, Blurb. I find problems with limited POVs too. Sometimes I need to get into someone else's head and.... I don't know how to pull it off.

this is really awesome!

Poor Lars, Stuck with Hector and Ylitta! XD And I liked the last line ^^ Update soon!

Oh, poor Lars, because Rhen keeps like those dead fish like he said, but it was lie, Lars,
oh, silly Ylitta, so annoying,
that's great, blurb

that is soo sad! Lars you baka! It makes me mad at Rhen... haha X3 my poor little Lars!

Rhen was rather grumpy, when she woke up the next morning. Really she should have seen it coming, staying up late like that.

She teetered out of bed and cursed the sunlight.

Oh, to go to sleep again.

But today she had to tutor Hio, early, because he had a major examination coming up and he wouldn’t be free in the afternoons for a month.

Once in the school building she staggered immediately for the coffee.

Neya eyed her sympathetically.

“Hard night, huh?”

“Yeah, I stayed up late with L-“

Actually, her brain said, catching up with her mouth a bit too late, that probably wasn’t the smartest thing to say.

“How exhausting that must have been,” Neya said, and leered. Leered.

“Shut up,” Rhen said.

She could feel her face burning. She turned away, praying Neya wouldn’t see, because if she did she would never hear the end of it.

But Neya had turned to greet one of the other secretaries who was just coming in, giving Rhen the opportunity to escape.

What had been wrong with her last night? She’d just been giddy at seeing him, that was all. She’d just been… showing off. A lot. And now she was embarrassed to think about it. She was so obvious.

She remembered how her heart had leapt in her chest when she’d rounded the corner and seen him. She replayed the entire stupid conversation in her mind. She’d been babbling the entire time, she must have sounded like a moron.

“Oh, hi Rhen,” Lars said.

She jumped.

“H-hi. Lars. Um. Bye.”

She fled.

---

That afternoon Master Harald called her aside to explain to her that the Empress had requested for students of the Academy to perform during the upcoming Fair.

“So I need to prepare my kids?” Rhen asked.

“No, no, they’ll be preparing with their homeroom classes. I’m just explaining to you why they will need to be missing a lot of classes from now on.”

“But I should at least help from the sidelines-“ she said.

“That would be very nice, yes.” He said. “But do try to focus on what you need to do, as well.”

For a moment she nodded dumbly, not comprehending. Then she realized what he was referring to.

She gaped at him.

“I. Oh. I. Thank you,” she said, so overwhelmed she didn’t know what else to say.

He nodded gravely in acknowledgment.

“I look forward to seeing something impressive from you, Ms. Darzon. And from Mr. Tenobor as well.”

She nodded mutely.

As soon as he was gone she ran to tell Lars.

---

“So…” She said casually, sidling up to Lars. “Master Harald called me aside today.”

He stiffened. Then, with forced casualness, he asked mildly, “Did he now?”

“Yes. And you won’t believe what he said!”

He looked at her face, glowing with happiness.

He felt sick to his stomach.

“Do tell,” he said.

Goddess give him patience and let her crush on Master Harald end before his tolerance did, he prayed.

---

“So he basically realized that we were going to try out in this competition and he’s actually rooting for us and I think he probably thinks we can actually do it!”

“Not so fast,” he said, chiding her, “It simply means he doesn’t think we will absolutely disgrace ourselves- and wait, we?”

“Yes, he mentioned you as well. You in particular. And my students will be practicing with their classes for now, which gives us so much more available time to practice-“

“I also have classes, you know-“

“But you’re not a homeroom teacher, you’ll probably have frees too- In any case how did he know about us?”

“He probably realized when we kept checking out the practice hall together.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Anyway, isn’t this exciting? I feel so flattered I can’t even begin to express- He really is unreasonably kind under that stone face of his.”

“Perhaps you perception is slightly exaggerated by your having-“ He began, and then cut himself off, thinking better of it.

“What?” She said.

“Nothing,” he said. “Look, I have class… I’ve gotta run. But we can talk about this later.” Or not, he thought.

----

See? She was actually rather proud of how that had gone. She hadn’t been awkward at all. She’d even managed to avoid staring at his lashes. Or how nice his shirt looked on him. No, she had managed to look at him totally normally. And she’d even managed to have a… mostly normal conversation with him. Because really, they were such good friends, it didn’t matter that she had a crush on him, right?

Right.

Nothing even needed to change. Right?

Right.

She was satisfied with this until she realized she was skipping. Skipping. Down the school hallways.

She was skipping and she had a goofy grin on her face.

Okay. This was ridiculous.

Something had to be done. Except that when she imagined- when she imagined confessing- her heart sank to her stomach. Cold, clammy fear took over. Because she couldn’t, actually, bring herself to even imagine facing him and saying-

But…

But.

Short chapter to tide you over the weekend.

Also, thanks for all the lovely comments, guys. If I've been responding less it's because every time I click here I'm reminded that I need to continue writing. But your comments keep me motivated and help loads so thanks. =)

(See, this fic is like a train. I started with several stops in mind. Then at various points the train got detoured or stopped for long, annoying security inspections. But now I've covered almost all the stops and the final station is almost in sight... SFSDSFSFFFS MUST KEEP WRITING.)

Yessssssssssss...... yessss...... The inevitable confession is right around the corner

that was great! WWWAAIITT.... did you just say that this was the update for the whole weekend!? *sobs* well actually I'll be gone soon so it wont really be THAT bad but still!

Ow, sweet,
they'll come soon,..
Great chapter, and seen new writing style, i had,

YAY update! So the story is near it's end? Once you finish the fic. please, please, please go back to "The Little Joys of Living, Lying, and Falling in Love" Cause I'm waiting for an update! Nah I'm not gonna give you a break from writing (jk) Really I just want to read the next update for that fic. And this update was short and cute in a way. ^^

sana96: Actually, I am very much hoping to finish Little Joys... it's just that I wrote most of the remaining part (it has only 2-3 chapters left) and then gmail ate it. Considering that the story has been lost two times before, it's kind of depressing and demoralizing that when I finally managed to start again it got eaten. So. Yeah. But hopefully when this is finished I'll be able to think about Little Joys again, yeah.

@shadowshed: I have difficulty understanding your comments. I mean, thanks for the sentiment, I appreciate it, but I don't really get what you're trying to say.

----

This story does not end at the confession (there's a few more stops after that)- but the confession is just around the corner, yeah.

She caught up with him outside of class.

Maybe it was a bad idea. But she had sort of not been able to stop herself from at least going to his hallway and then of course he saw her standing around so she couldn’t exactly leave- she’d swallowed the “run awaaaaay” instinct because that wasn’t going to work twice without him catching on that something was up.

“Hi Lars,” she said.

“Hi, Rhen,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

“So. Um.” She said.

“Yes?” He said, patiently.

“Um,” she said.

“Lars!” Shrieked a female voice from down the hallway.

---

“Oh god.” Lars said, as the woman began teetering towards them in her precarious high heels.

Rhen looked at him, confused by the irritation in his voice.

“Who is this?” She asked.

“Um.” He said. “Ylitta. Former childhood friend. You remember her.”

Her eyes widened.

“Not that horrid girl who-“

“Yes,” He whispered. “And she’s still a nightmare. Now shhh.”

“Laaaars!” Ylitta squealed, and flung her arms around him.

“Er,” he said, looking distinctly traumatized, and futilely tried to remove her.

“Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?” she said, giggling, and kept her arms around him as she turned to see who he was talking to.

Her expression changed from an inane smile to pure disgust in .03 seconds.

“Oh lord,” she said, and made a retching motion. “Not her. Lars, this stupid infatuation has gone on long enough. I came here to tell you that, actually. I did a lot of soul-searching about it- it was very hard, and heart-breaking, too, but you are so very important to me, Lars, and I value our friendship far too much to allow you to make such stupid mistakes.”

“I’m sorry, what-“ Rhen began.

Ylitta turned. “Surely you understand as well, you- um, you- In any case, surely you also agree this is ridiculous, underneath that thick skull of yours? Even servants must have some sense of what is proper, after all.”

“If I just understood what you were talking about-“

At this Lars made a choking sound.

“No, that’s quite enough, I think.” He said, and began dragging Ylitta away. “We need to talk,” he hissed in her ear.

“Don’t pull me away, Lars, I was just about to explain to the servant-girl that-“

“You have absolutely no right to come down here, you addle-prated fool-“

She stomped down on his foot, hard, digging the heel of her shoe in.

He yelped in pain and let go of her.

“Girl,” she said, stalking imperiously towards Rhen.

“Rhen,” Rhen corrected, gritting her teeth.

“Right. Whatever. I don’t know if you have any principles, but surely you must at least have scruples enough to realize how shameful it is for you to continue to take advantage of Lars here like this.”

“I haven’t the slightest clue what you mean,” Rhen said, coldly.

Ylitta sniffed irritably. “Surely you realize how ridiculous it is for a man of his standing- a cousin to the empress herself- to be associated with one such as yourself! Why, it defies description! If it weren’t for his being sadly out of his mind- I refer, of course, to his ridiculous infatuation for you- it would scarcely be believed!”

“I think he has the right to associate with whoever he- wait. Infatuation?”

“Yes, his silly little crush on you,” Ylitta said, impatiently, as if speaking to a child.

Rhen said, slowly. “Lars isn’t- Lars doesn’t-“

She turned to him for confirmation, still confused but certain she must have misheard.

She paused as she saw his expression.

He’d gone white.

---

He knew he need to say something to undo everything Ylitta had just said, to wipe that expression off Rhen’s face, something, anything, it didn’t matter, if only he could-

More than anything he wanted to be ten feet underground right now. No, more than anything he wanted Ylitta to drop dead on the spot.

“See?” Ylitta was saying, oblivious. “She thinks it’s preposterous too. Don’t you, Rhen? It’s laughable, really. You’ll put this ridiculous nonsense of yours aside now, won’t you, Lars?”

“I don’t think it’s laughable, actually, no.” Rhen said. She didn’t bother to look at Ylitta, instead keeping steady eye contact with him.

He swallowed, painfully. Tried to bring back moisture in his mouth as he began- “You don’t need to pay attention, Rhen-“

“Oh, no, I’m paying attention,” she said.

“It’s not-“ he said, and couldn’t deny it.

He looked away, humiliated.

“Well then, Lars,” Ylitta said, looking back and forth between the two of them, tapping her foot uncomfortably. “Let’s get going then.”

He shook her off angrily.

“What exactly were you hoping to achieve with this, you horrid little b-“

“Yes, do tell.” Rhen interrupted, pleasantly. He still couldn’t read her expression. Or tone, for that matter. It was absolutely nerve-wracking. “What were you planning to achieve with this?”

“Well,” Ylitta spluttered. “Obviously. You realize how ridiculous it is for him to like you. I thought having it out in the open might finally allow him to recover his senses.”

She tried, once again, to take hold of Lars.

“I’m afraid I don’t really see how it’s ridiculous at all,” Rhen said, slowly, deliberately.

Stop it, Lars thought, I don’t need you to try to make this better out of pity.

“After all, I like him myself,” she said. “So I’m actually quite happy to hear he feels the same. Even if I’d have preferred to have heard from him myself.” She glanced at Lars.

He gaped at her.

“So thanks,” she continued sweetly. “That clarified a lot, Ylitta. If you don’t mind I think I’ll be taking Lars now.”

---

They ran, Rhen taking Lars by the hand, Lars following numbly behind, as Ylitta screeched after them- “Stop! I demand you stop! You presumptuous little brat, how dare you!”

“I don’t think she appreciated my stomping on her foot as we left,” Rhen observed, laughing, as they rounded the corner. “But then she had it coming to her.

Lars just gaped at her.

What?” she said. “Stop staring at me like that.”

“What was that?” He said.

“What?” She said, innocently.

“That. Back there. What you said. About. About li- about liking-“

“About liking you?” She prompted, cheerily.

“That.” He said, bright red.

“The truth,” she said, too easily.

He sagged. “Rhen. There’s like and there’s like, you know? You don’t need to pretend- You don’t need to feel guilty, I don’t mind us just being friends-“

“Well, I do.” She said.

He blinked, uncomprehending.

She leaned against the wall, panting, hand against her chest. “My heart is beating so fast you can’t comprehend. I wasn’t planning to let you know like that, it just slipped out and- And here I thought there was no way you’d like me back and I’m so happy I think I might pass out.”

He didn’t believe her. He was pretty sure she was lying. But she was laughing giddily and if she was or if she wasn’t lying either way there was one way to tell.

Hesitantly, terrified of what he was about to do and nevertheless certain that he was going to do it, because if she was lying than this was the least she could offer in return and if she was telling the truth then- then this was her revenge for her being so cheerful and careless about it-.

Very softly, very carefully, he kissed her.

----

Sometime later they sat down together in the quiet shade of a willow tree on the school grounds and pieced together what had happened.

“I thought you- didn’t you- Master Harald?” He managed to ask.

She began to laugh.

“That was a lie,” she said. “You actually believed that?”

“Well, you’ve been known to have bad taste in men before…”

“I still do,” she said, cheerfully.




---

A/n: I could've dragged it out, really I could have- I agonized over it, in fact- but you know what? They both like each other. They are now both aware that they both like each other. How much drama can you come up with, without it feeling ridiculously forced?

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OOOOOOMMMMMMMMMGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SO AMAZING I CAN"T EVEN TALK! I'm sooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!! thanks soooo much for posting this right before I had to leave! this is soooo amazing eeekk I can't type! erg! omg! I just can't hold myself together! infact I read the whole thing standing up! in a formal dress just when I got home! omg this is so wonderful! I couldn't take my eyes off the screen! omg omg omg!

That was So. Freaking. Adorable.

=BARELY contains fangirl squeal=

I love you ;~; You are one of my favorite authoresses~!

And you used Ylitta too! You're the only one besides me who has put Ylitta in a story that I've seen!

So it happened!!!! Whoo hoo!!!!!! And it's all thanks to Ylitta, what an interesting twist.

WOW!!
it told by an acident,
umm, and you may ignore my ununderstandable comment above,
just again,
love this story!!!!!

"My heart is beating so fast you can’t comprehend and I’m so happy I think I might pass out."
Same Here! <3 <3 <3 ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG! <3 <3 <3 I loved this chapter so much! Still do though XD

OOOOOOOOOOOH!! it happened!!! I LOVE YOU SOO MUCH!!! this is such an awesome story!!!