Si was exhausted. But he thought there must have been something important for the Unio girl, as she hadn’t done it before.

  He decided to wait patiently for her to gather her thoughts.

  Mari Hal sometimes surprised him with the way of her thinking.

  Unio definitely had a different way of seeing things, and it was useful for him to understand it. His mother warned him and advised him to finish it, and Si was planning to do it soon.

  It was still useful, though.

  He was tired. He had been training for the whole day.

  Lukai had arranged the meeting. Si wanted to talk about what he had seen, as he was curious about how Luna connected her energies to generate the blow he observed.

  Soon he would need to depart.

  Yesterday. It was yesterday. Si needed to know; he had to find a way to fight the attackers that would not consume so many of Shadows’ people. As in 166 ACD, when his brothers and many others died. So many families were shattered, and so many lives were lost.

  Si had to find a way; he had to develop a weapon good enough. And he was very close to finding one; he already did tests; the results were promising.

  What he saw yesterday gave him additional ideas; though, he wanted to discuss it further and perform additional tests later.

  They were to meet soon, and topics for the discussion were important.

  Yet, Si decided to wait for the Unio girl to listen to what she had in her mind. It could be useful.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  “Please, Mari, tell me,” he said, trying to prompt her.

  It made her jump slightly. She visibly wanted to say a lot, but at the same time, she looked as if she was not sure. Si sighed.

  “… Oh, yes, Si, but Si, I am a bearer of the news; it is that in Unio, everybody talks about it, and today, the news is that he again… Si, it is very unfair to you, truly, Si. Oh, it is that she met with him, Si! Alena! And the OFF General!” Mari finally said it—the last words she exclaimed.

  Si had to say, she was agitated. He wasn’t, though.

  “And…?” he asked calmly.

  “… And?” she asked back, sounding unsure.

  “What about it?” Si asked, also a bit lost.

  She was that heated yet couldn’t say why exactly it was that important to her?

  “… But? People? They… talk? Aren’t you concerned? Si, you should be; what they say, Si, it is…!”

  Here she paused.

  Si sighed again and needed to ask further. “What do they say, Mari?”

  “They say that they were… that they had—” she said and suddenly stopped, as if her internal fuel ran out. “Aren’t you concerned?” she asked again, lowering her voice.

  “Mari, but about what exactly?” Si asked, trying to be patient.

  “People talking?” she asked, sounding less and less confident.

  “Unio people?” Si tried to get to know who was talking, as it was visibly critical.

  “Of course… here, they do not talk?” she asked and added. “It is insulting.”

  “Here? No, we somehow do not have this perspective. I need to remember it for the future.”

  Si thought it was useful to know what could agitate Unio people. Gossip, it seemed, consumed their time. He despised these kinds of things. But noted in his mind to remember.

  “But aren’t you…?” Mari still sounded as if she was not sure.

  “I am not concerned at all. I know that the OFF General visited my alliance fiancée. I am very well aware, as it was me who asked him to do it.”

  What he said visibly surprised her.

  “You!” Mari shouted, then gasped.

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  Si noticed he was dozing off; he felt tired, though he still had to compose himself.

  “Mari? I need to leave soon; I need us to finish our meeting, if it is all.”

  “Oh? Yes, of course, I am so sorry. Si? But Si? Why? Why did you want this General to visit your fiancée, as before they…?” she asked, insisting.

  It made him feel a bit annoyed, the mention of the past relationship between Lukai and Anna. Not Anna. Luna.

  “General Lukai has known my fiancée for long. I asked him to prepare her,” Si said.

  “Prepare? For what?” Mari asked; she sounded curious.

  “I wanted General Lukai to prepare my fiancée for finally meeting me,” Si added, smiled at her, then said goodbye, and left.