Gil gen­tly pulls Kiddu up the stairs. They stop on the third floor land­ing.

Gil
What the hell is wrong with you?
Kiddu
Huh?
Gil
You can’t talk like that in front of Matreya!
Kiddu
Oh. Like I care. Stu­pid old hag. She can expel me if she wants. It’s not like I’m going to impe­r­ial school next year.

She says those last words with a cut­ting edge in her voice. Ever since Gil applied for higher mag­i­cal edu­ca­tion, she hasn’t missed an oppor­tu­nity to put him on the defen­sive about it.

Gil
Hey, cut it out. You know I hate the Empire as much as you. And that’s not what I meant. I meant that we shouldn’t be—

He leans in close, whis­per­ing.

Gil
—attract­ing atten­tion to our­selves, right before the mis­sion tonight. And what the hell were you think­ing when you brought up beasts?
Kiddu
Well. In my defense, I’m kind of high right now.

Gil real­izes that a com­bi­na­tion of anger and ner­vous­ness is mak­ing him vio­lently shake. He forces him­self to take a few deep breaths.

Gil
Are you actu­ally going to be ratio­nal enough to do this tonight?
Kiddu
Of course! You worry too much, Gilly boy.

Before he can get mad at her annoy­ing nickname—or her casual indif­fer­ence to the dan­ger they’ll soon be in—she hugs him tightly, pin­ning his arms against his sides. He makes a show of squirm­ing. After a minute, she releases him, turns, and skips up the stairs to her floor.

Kiddu
I’ll come down and get you later, okay? Be pre­pared!

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