“How can the entire weight of the Web’s expectations be on both of our shoulders?” Sam asked. “Shouldn’t it be cut by half?”

  “It isn’t the same set of expectations. Just the same amount.” She shook her with a derisive smile. “Really Sam, must I explain simple logic to you? We each garner in people’s heart expectations that relate to our own self. Meaning that those expectations are unique to each one of us. They can’t be shared.”

  “Now hold on. I’ll concede that we might be talking about two different objects. Say, EEX for ‘Erianna Expectations’ and—”

  “Nope.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t like that joke, but felt like I had to make it. Anyway, we have two different sets, S and E, which contain completely different items of expectations that happen to equal the same amount. God, I hope I’m using the terms correctly. I hate set theory. Anyway, logic holds that even though those two sets are different from one another, some of the items in them aren’t. Meaning, they are comprised, in part, of identical expectations levied upon each of us. Which must mean that with my appearance, we have expectations that are now shared between the two of us. Meaning that the burden on each of our shoulders must be smaller than before.”

  “But both of our sets would still be identical in weight. And they would still correspond to the entire weight of the Web’s expectation. No one lost their expectations because of your appearance. They just lowered them.”

  Sam smirked with a chuckle. “Well, I am good at lowering expectations.”

  “Are you also good at admitting you were wrong?”

  “I wouldn’t know. Never had to.”

  “I find that hard to believe.”

  “Well, you’re probably right, then. My bad.” He grunted into a stretch, spreading his arms wide over his head.

  “So…” Erianna said haltingly, looking downwards. “You’re convinced?”

  “Of what?”

  “Don’t be an ass.”

  “You’re gonna wear out that phrase by the end of the week, you know. Let alone year.”

  She smiled at him. “Very funny. I have more arguments to make. Well, they’re pretty much building on the last one.”

  “Look, if we’re being honest, it’s not like I needed convincing. I just wanted Farris’ rationale for sending you; to better understand what is expected of me, you, and our relationship. What exactly would be your role as my teacher and so on.”

  “Well, I’m mainly here to teach you about threads. But I will admit that most of the Farris reasons were about me helping you in general. With training, fighting, theory and practice.”

  “As a friend or as a teacher?”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “My friends are already helping me every day. Overall, they each had spent a couple of hours, at least, teaching me something or helping me train. But they don’t make lesson plans. They don’t spend their own time thinking up ways to improve my training. Well, at the very least, they shouldn’t. Sarah did and probably still does a little.”

  Erianna nodded. “I see. It’s sort of like the difference between doing something because you want to and being told to do that. The first might make you do the job with a glad heart, but it could also lead you to do less of a job.”

  “You’re just trying to reference something we talked about before.”

  “I’m really not. Let me explain: The way Farris ‘convinced’ me to become your teacher was by just giving me the one job; teaching you about threads. Then, he said, if I wanted to spend some of my free time, as your friend, helping you in your studies and training, because I’ve been exactly through the same curriculum that you will, I could do that. But that would fall under… what did you call it?”

  “Play.”

  “So me helping you with everything else would fall under play. Something that I would do only if I wanted.”

  “Hmm…”

  “What?” Erianna narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I’m just thinking aloud.” Sam shrugged innocently. “And of course, I don’t know you from Eve”—he smirked—“so I have no basis from which to arrive at this assumption. But… what if we give Farris more credit than he probably deserves? What if we look at his every action as calculating and exploitative? Then, we might conclude that—”

  “Farris counted on the fact that I wouldn’t treat helping you in other aspects as play? That my sense of duty, to you and to the Web in general, would lead me to feeling like I must spend time helping you? Yeah… he definitely did. It just remains to be seen whether he was right.”

  “What are you betting?”

  “Depends on you, really. And how much time I can stand spending around you.”

  “Well then, God forbid you actually end up liking me and we become friends. You’ll have no free moment during this entire vacation of yours.”

  “That does sound bad. Almost as bad as becoming friends with you. But if the worst does come to pass, I’ll push through it. I could rest when you’re resting, after all.”

  “No rest at all.” Sam slowly emphasized each word.

  “Shove off. We’re not going to have the conversation about the importance of resting. Enough people have gone over this with you that it should’ve lodged itself into your brain.”

  “You’re one to talk.”

  “I am. Cause it had definitely been lodged in mine. I’m not the same as I was two years ago, remember?”

  “Fine. We’ll table that conversation. But I’m not letting you off. I want to make that clear. See, I’m making a scrap book. And I’m going to have all the big names in it. Each entry detailing their exact argument about why resting is ‘important’ and why I need to take it easy sometimes and not work myself to death and bla bla bla. I’ll have yours in there, eventually. I’ll have everyone.” He twirled his fingers and laughed maniacally.

  “Who’d you get so far?”

  Sam started counting on his fingers. “The usual suspects. Maurice, Sarah, Dan, Yvessa and Felix. My therapist. Farris. Esther Livingstone, surprisingly. But it was just a text message. Lin. A guy named Carl Pines who’s the butt of a lot of my jokes, but you wouldn’t know. Nice guy, I’m going to miss him. His was really good. Hm… who else? A couple of the teachers slash examiners I met during my oral exams. The superintendent. Some of the academy’s administrative staff that I interact with semi-regularly. But anyone unnamed doesn’t count. They’re small fries. They don’t go in the book. Oh, and I also have myself and the voices in my head.”

  “Do those go in the book?”

  “Unfortunately not.” He bent down, putting his finger to his lips and whispered, “They’re a secret. I’m not supposed to tell other people about them. Otherwise the bad guys will get me. You know, the men in black.” He sat back up with a smirk. He was really proud of himself for this one.

  Erianna nodded gravely. “Then I thank you for confiding in me. I’ll take it to the grave.”

  “Oh you will.” Sam widened his eyes and spazzed with his entire upper body, his fists clenching in triumphant ecstasy. “You all will. Ha!”

  Erianna gave him a thumbs up and emptied the rest of her water. “Good to know.”

  “Ugh.” Sam rotated his right shoulder. “And now I’m sore. Serves me right. Anyway, since we’re on the topic of rest and how much it’s important to me. How about you let me go back to the sleep you’ve robbed me of? Whatever remains of it, at least.”

  “Do you really think you’ll be able to fall back asleep after being graced by my presence?”

  “Well I’ll have to switch the sheets, but that shouldn’t take too long. I can clean them in the morning.”

  She pointed at him. “You better not. That would be incredibly insulting to me and to the Sarechi monarchy.”

  “I didn’t intend it to be anything else. Now you might not know this of me, but I’m an ardent republican. I don’t abide by even the most democratic of constitutional monarchies. The only people who should be allowed to wear a crown are best-selling artists who defined their genre. Anyone else, into the dustbin of history.” He pointed behind him with his thumb.

  “What if I convince my mother to give you a title?”

  “That would make me an aristocratic elite and thus no longer beholden to my old class and its struggles. Long live the queen, I’d say. How high of a title are we talking about?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Well, nothing that sounds French like marquis or chevalier. I know that baron is like the most basic, but it is still pretty cool. We do have the more… location dependent titles like earl, if I want to completely abide by Tolkien’s hatred of the Normans. I’ll tell you what: Let me think about this. For now, I’ll downrank my hatred of the crown to just a slight apathy as long as said crown relinquishes all executive power to the mandate of the masses.”

  “I can get you duke by just making you a simple offer, you know? Don’t even need to get my mother involved.” She winked.

  “I don’t get it.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “I’m a duchess.”

  “Oh! But that would just make me a consort, no? I wouldn’t get the actual duchy.”

  “You could if I gave it to you. I’m not allowed to relinquish any of my noble titles or grant any of my royal ones. But I can transfer my noble titles like my duchy to a family member without needing the approval of Chamber or Council.”

  “But surely you can’t get married just like that?”

  “There aren’t any legal prohibitions against it, only practical ones. And you know… personal ones like being able to stand the sight and sound of the person whom I to marry.”

  “Well I can’t give you that, but I can give you a satirical view of married life in the fifties. Only we’ll have to stay on New Terra. Maynil has no moons.” He uppercut the air.

  “Yllantore does have one, though.”

  “Alright, you convinced me. Let’s get hitched. A small price to pay for joining the ranks of the blue bloods.”

  “Oh shoot!” Erianna shook her head. “I just remembered that I promised not to get married until my brother does. That’s a moral prohibition, I’m afraid. We’ll have to postpone going down to the courthouse. And you know what? Now that I had a few moments to clear my head and think about this, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with you. So no can do on that wedding, I’m afraid.”

  “Damn.” Sam mimicked plunging a dagger into his heart. “You’ve given me hope only to take it away in but a flash. My dreams and ambitions are shattered. I am both broken-hearted and betrayed. Oh well, guess it’s back to spouting revolutionary slogans for me. Wait, could we actually get married in a courthouse?”

  Erianna paused with a contemplative frown. “I think so. It depends on whether they’ll allow me, as a foreign citizen, to marry. I think they would because I am here legally and such. And it would count for Sarechi law, which recognizes the Terran civil authority. Although… the nobility do have their own separate system to the civil, so I’m not sure whether that would be enough.”

  “Separate system?”

  “It’s purely a result of the hodgepodge of customs and traditions that surrounds the nobility. But tradition that results in its own extra laws and bureaucracy. Tsk, but I don’t think it matters, though. Civil law triumphs over it. And as long as it recognizes my marriage, that’s what’s important for you to be counted as a family member.”

  “Fascinating…” Sam cupped his chin. “Well, not really. But we are talking about an alien race and a fantasy legal system. So it somehow does end up interesting.”

  “Why are we the alien race and have the fantasy legal system? You’re new here, both you and the Terrans. Your culture is the most unique.”

  “Culture?! We don’t do cultural reductionism here, princess. The Terran people are varied and complex. Besides, fantasy and alien are relative terms. One person’s fantasy is another’s reality. An alien at one nation is the… not-alien at another. Plus… you guys are the fucking aliens. You have magic. You have pointy ears. Need I go on?”

  “Racist.”

  “Hey! You don’t know me. That’s just conjecture on your part.”

  “Am I wrong?”

  “No. But that doesn’t make what you said the truth. Need we go over what makes a statement truthful?”

  She shook her head. “No thanks. I wouldn’t want to waste any more of your sleeping time.”

  “Well, judging by the fact that you responded with a joke to my comment about ending our virgin meeting and going our separate ways for now, I assume that you’re not actually planning to let me go back to sleep.”

  “You assumed correctly.” She smiled brightly. “Was your statement truthful?”

  He stuck out his tongue. “Plus, if we’re being honest. I probably wouldn’t have been able to fall back asleep. And even if I did, by that time, I would have less than an hour and a half left. I’ll have you know that I take my circadian cycles very seriously.”

  “Duly noted. So let’s get to it, then. We have a long day ahead of us.”

  “Ugh… really? I was bluffing. I want to go back to bed.”

  “Stop your whining. Up till now was me trying to convince you I should be your teacher. Now it’s your part to convince me you should be my student. So show some spirit and get to it. If you don’t perform well now, I’m going to drop you, and then you’ll get nowhere in this life.”

  “Rather be nowhere than with a tyrant like you,” Sam murmured beneath his breath.

  “What was that, boy?!”

  “Nothing, coach! Said I’d rather be nowhere else than with you. Hey…” He smiled to himself. “That actually worked. That never happened to me before.”

  Erianna laughed. “I’m happy for you. Now, are you ready to get to work?”

  Sam dusted off his thighs. “That depends on what kind of work.”

  “Now, is that something you should say to someone you’re trying to convince to take you up as her student?”

  “Look, I’m not going to grovel. You’re hot shit, don’t get me wrong. But you’re not that hot. You’re no Farris Ninae, miss. So I’m not going to lie to you. If you say that we’re going to work down in the fields, planting turnips, I’mma bid you adieu.”

  “We’re going to work out. That should be the kind of work you are comfortable doing, no?”

  “Comfortable? If only. Habituated to, and begrudgingly at that? Yes.”

  “Bummer. Best mentally prepare yourself for begrudgingly performing one of your habits, then.”

  Sam snorted. “You’re not actually serious, are you?”

  “I am. I want to see what a regular day for you looks like. From dawn till dusk.”

  Sam gestured outside. “It’s not even dawn yet.”

  “And we’ll be continue our schedule well past dusk. What’s your point? Go get dressed already.”

  “Wow. That is wrong on so many levels. I’m lodging a complaint to… is it HR? Or like, the rectorate or something? Who’s in charge of making sure teachers don’t behave inappropriately with students? But you’re also a student, so maybe it’s a different body.”

  “I’m also a princess and immune to legal prosecution.”

  “That’s can’t be right.”

  “It is. I have total diplomatic immunity while abroad and the only court who can judge me back home is a court of my peers.”

  “But you can get married.”

  “Different laws for different circumstances. We could also get divorced with no problems, but you’d have no way to force me to pay you any divorce settlement through the civil courts.”

  “Damn… I hadn’t realized just how much authoritarian your country really is. This puts things into—”

  “Yeah, yeah, we get it. Put those things in a different perspective while getting dressed, will you?”

  Sam held up his hands. “Can we at least wait until morning fully comes? So my three usual companions could join us?”

  “Nope. We’re going now. And we’re going to be avoiding them for the rest of the day.”

  “Hmm…” Sam turned to regard her with narrowed eyes. She seemed innocent enough. Could he have misjudged her acting abilities? “You’re not trying to do that Farris bit of not telling other people about you being there until you actually meet with them, are you?”

  “I am trying to do that. Because I think it’s funny when it’s done sporadically and with no intention of causing harm. But I have my own reasons for not wanting to meet with those guys until the evening.”

  “How would that even work? If you’re going to be walking outside. People are going to see you, recognize you. Word will get around. If it hasn’t already.”

  “It hasn’t. Like I said, there was no announcement that I was going to come here. The news is meant to be delivered organically, as a matter of fact. After all, I’m not here on official royal business, but only in order to further my training and assist in the war effort. My duty as a captain in the Sarechi Royal Forces.”

  “How are they—You’re a captain?”

  “I have to be. Royal prerogative.”

  “Huh. Wonder how that works in practice…” He shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. You’re still going to be walking around. How are people not going to recognize you before you manage to complete your bit?”

  “The same way Farris did before his.”

  Sam stared at her. “I’m not going to say the word, just so you know.”

  “And I wasn’t going to make the joke, promise. It was just a one and done.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Would you believe me if I explained to you why I can walk outside with no problems?”

  “I assume it’s because Farris magicked you so that no one else but me is able to see your true form or something.”

  “Close, but it wasn’t technically you, as in, he didn’t make an exception for your magical makeup. What he did was weave around my usual protections a new temporary… let’s call it enhancement. One that would make me appear like a different person. Same height and build for simplicity’s sake, but everything else is different. The reason you’re still able to see me as I really am is because he made it in such a way so that it would be canceled when coming into contact with the protections that Farris made for you. Think of it like two different masks. Farris made me a mask that only works when not seen through the mask he made you. Although, in practice, it’s just the one mask with different properties for each person and he simply made an exception for his own threads…”

  Sam frowned in thought. “Farris made… ‘protections’ for me. What, like, configurations of threads? Why? When? What are they even meant to do?”

  Erianna sighed. “I’d prefer not to get too deep into this before we start studying. But, yes, it is a manipulation of threads that he was able to do because he is a Ruler. He did it to help you. And when he first met you.” She tilted her head while looking at him for a couple of seconds. “Actually, he probably only started on it when he first met you. You have pretty good protection and obfuscations schemes. Even for Farris, that would’ve taken an hour or two. As for what they do? The most basic and important function is to prevent other people who can see threads from being able to gleam information from your threads without breaking that protection. But I’m not going to say anymore on the subject for now.”

  “So, I assume that only works in person? Like with the inter-Web communication? If I snapped a photo of you and sent it to the group chat, the bit would be over before it began?”

  “Yes… You didn’t right?”

  “Of course not. My phone’s camera is only for taking pictures of street cats.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ll need to go through your phone once we’re working out. To make sure you’re not lying. And look at those street cats.”

  “Done. By the way, I guess that means that some people do already know you’re here, right? This place might not be London, but there still are a couple of cameras keeping watch.”

  “Of course they do. But we don’t need to worry about them. So can we finally go?”

  “Just one more thing,” Sam said. “Does the exception in our masks make it so that you’re not affected by the protection Farris made for me?”

  “Yes. I can see everything and anything about you. Except not really. On the plus side, you also have an in through my defenses.”

  “I really want to do a ‘how many fingers am I holding up’ bit. I never did it with Farris.”

  “We’ll do it while we walk. Come on. I answered your questions. Go get dressed.”

  “What do you mean, go? You’re in my room. You want me to dress, get out.”

  She huffed. “Oh, alright, you little baby. I’ll wait outside. But you better be ready to go in two minutes.”

  “You don’t get to make demands of me,” Sam said as she was walking out of the door. “I’m missing on a morning session of meditation because of you, just so you know.” He paused in thought once left alone in the room. “Eh… well, I’ve had much worse reasons for skipping meditations. I’ll be fine.”

  He quickly got dressed, and, making sure that he had packed everything he needed for the day in his backpack, stepped out to join the princess waiting on his doorstep. “All ready.” He gave her a thumbs up before looking her up and down.

  “What?” She asked after him as he made for the stairs.

  “Nothing. It’s just… I only now realized that you’re dressed normally. And, you know, for the gym. You don’t really look like an elven princess.”

  “I’ll have you know that this is one of my favorite pairs of pants. Also, that what you just said is very rude. And probably racist.”

  “Oh, stop playing the race card. It’s getting old. You keep this up and I’ll start countering with structural issues and power relations. Then we’ll see who’s the real racist. Also, I am sorry. Those are nice pants. And you should know that, coming from me, that means a lot, because I notice fashion even less that I do visual appearance.”

  “I’ll take that under consideration,” she said as they stepped out into the open, “but it’ll take more than that for me to forgive you. Incidentally, I do apologize for preventing you from doing your morning meditation. I’ll try to find some time for you to slot it back in if you want.”

  “Nah, that’s alright.” Sam shook his head. He started heading towards his other usual gym, the one his friends only frequented when they came to join his training sessions with Lin. “It won’t feel the same if I’m already up and about. But maybe I’ll still do it during the time it takes you to go back to your room to change. We’ll see. I assume you’ll be able to find your way to the mess hall by yourself? Also that you will want to change your clothes after we workout and go grab breakfast after that?”

  “You’re are correct on almost all of these counts. Except that you won’t need to wait for me to go back to my own apartment and change clothes.”

  Sam gestured at her. “Where exactly are you hiding your spare wardrobe, then?”

  She lowered the collar of her shirt on the left side, revealing a silver-colored armlet with golden and black markings. “I Haven’t even seen my new digs yet. Came straight to you so I wouldn’t have to unpack. Not sure if I’m even going to anytime soon, actually. One of the perks of the jobs. Although, I have to give it back in two months.”

  “Seriously? Dan had to kill a Ruler to get one of those. You got one to make your move here easier?”

  “Yep. The Royal Treasury has a few of these artifacts to spare. The Terran military doesn’t. We had to loan them one a few years ago because of their policy that each Ruler gets one and they couldn’t take any from the non-Rulers because those are critical.”

  “Hm…” Sam pursed his lips. “Could I have a go on it?”

  “Do you think this is a toy?!” She whirled at him, then quickly winked. “Yeah, of course. Once I empty it out, I’ll show you how it works.”

  “Sarah and Felix too.”

  “Them too.”

  “Awesome.”