Ninavis rolled her eyes. She came back a moment later with a cup of cold tea she’d poured from a large glass jar.

Janel took the mug and held it in both hands. It began steaming. “Anyway, let’s talk about what I said to upset you. It wasn’t me flirting with that Manol vané, was it?”

He debated gulping the second glass of aris. “Yes,” Kihrin turned in his seat toward her. “But not because of the flirting. I’m upset because he wasn’t any Manol vané; that was Thaena’s son, Teraeth. Who happens to be my best friend.”

“Oh. Is that all?” Janel drank the entire cup of tea in one long swallow.

“When Teraeth bought me in Kishna-Farriga—” He paused. “Apparently, I have you to thank for that rescue, so—thank you. Anyway, afterward, Teraeth and I became friends. But I had people who needed me back in Quur, and I wanted to leave. He didn’t want me to. We fought over it. He convinced me to stay by bringing you into it.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I won’t go into details. I asked him how he even knew what you looked like, and he—” Kihrin laughed. “He didn’t lie. He just let me believe a lie. He couldn’t just come out and say you two had met. He knew I would have definitely left to find you, if I’d known.”

He drummed his fingers against the countertop.

Ninavis brought over a cider and sat it before Janel. Ninavis started to say something, then shook her head and went back into the kitchen.

Janel traded her tea for the cider.

The room felt quiet for a place where so many people had been laughing and singing just a few hours before.

Kihrin looked at Janel sideways. “‘It doesn’t hurt as much as not knowing your name?’” he quoted her words and raised an eyebrow. “Really? That pickup line was the worst.”

She wrapped her dignity around her. “I was delirious and in pain. Shut up.”

He laughed outright, great guffaws, and after a few seconds, she joined him.

“It’s not my fault,” she muttered. “Have you seen him? He’s beautiful.”

“Oh, he’s handsome. No argument there. I just wouldn’t have the wherewithal to make an amorous play at someone while I lay dying in their arms in the Afterlife.”

She turned to face him and blinked at him several times, smiling. “Are you so sure?”

That gave him pause.

Kihrin stared at Janel. “Wait, what did I say in the Afterlife? What did I do?”

She chuckled. “Quite a lot, although nothing I’d hold a grudge over. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Oh no,” Kihrin said, “I’m the one who should apologize for storming off.”

“I’m glad. Do you want to join us again?”

“Yeah, I should.”