"Lisbetha," said Neal, rolling her name out slowly. "Now that is a badass, assassin-type name."

"I'm gonna make it one," she told him with a wink.

Neal was a good ally to have in the Assassin's Court, especially for someone as new as she was. He was the king's personal guard, after all, and he'd taken a liking to Liz since the day she'd spat her knocked-out tooth at his feet and told him his friends had anger issues. The thirty-something year old man had considered her with interest, then taken her to a healer. "You may as well start with all your teeth, because it's almost guaranteed you'll lose more," he'd told her, the first of many pieces of advice. Neal had taken a particular interest in Liz joining the assassins, which almost made what was to happen that night a shame.

Almost.

Liz shot another look over his shoulder before returning as quickly and disinterestedly as possible to her drink. The chatter filling the tavern was loud and mostly cheerful, and some of it was right in her ear courtesy of Neal's friends, with whom they were sitting around a crowded table.

"So she said, "fine, prove me wrong". So I did." The woman sitting next her paused for dramatic effect, then finished, "By knocking out her teeth!"

"One tooth," Liz corrected automatically, which only added to the answering laughter. She smiled, but dodged the other woman's attempt to sling an arm around her shoulders, and then shot yet another look over Neal's shoulder to make sure the girl by the bar had noticed they weren't together.

Neal raised an eyebrow at her, and she let her gaze wander away, pretending she hadn't been looking at anything in particular. He rolled his eyes. "You're not entering a convent. Go talk to her."

"Nah, I'm good. Tell me about the final test."

"That's your attempt to trick me into telling you?"

"My first attempt. I'm disarming you by making you think I'm bad at this, so you won't see my next try coming." She emptied her tankard, refusing to let herself check on the girl.

"You just told me your strategy, though."

"Did I?"

"Yes, you did. You're distracted. Hmm, I wonder--"

She rolled her eyes. "A relationship would be an even bigger distraction. I'm focusing on becoming a full assassin. Once I've passed the final test you can tease me about random tavern girls."

Neal glanced over his shoulder. "Just as well. She's kissing that boy she came in with."

Liz knocked over someone else's tankard in her haste to look over people's heads to the bar. The girl was leaning on it, still talking casually with the boy. They weren't so much as holding hands. She sat back down with a scowl to find Neal cackling into his drink.

"Funny," she told him.

"It really was. And I think you owe Ash a drink."

The sour-faced assassin pushed his spilled tankard in her direction.

"You're a real bastard," she told Neal, who still looked overly pleased with himself, and made her way to the bar. It was even louder on this end of the tavern and she had to shout to order. The added warmth of crowded bodies had her flushed even before she found herself standing next to the "random tavern girl" and pretending she wasn't. Across the room, Neal smiled widely at her. She scowled at him. Maybe he'd planned this too.

She was too busy stringing together some creative insults for him to notice immediately that she had been noticed.

"So are you going to introduce yourself, or just stand there?"

Liz flinched and turned her head to find the other girl slightly too close to be an accident, their elbows touching as they both leaned back on the bar. Hair color that had been hard to place from across the room turned out to be dirty blonde, pulled back from her face, and her eyes were sharp gray.

"Lisbetha," she said, thanking God it came out without a stutter or gasp. It was hard to look away from her direct stare.

The other girl considered her in way that indicated she was being evaluated, scored, and judged. Liz tried not to flush any more beneath her frank gaze, and waited with a sinking stomach for the same kind of comment Neal had made.

All she said was, "Pretty name. You go by Beth?"

"Liz."

"Hm. My name is Evelie."

Liz tried to think of something to say that wasn't "pretty", but it took too long.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

She lifted her chin. "You go by Eve?"

"Evvie." She looked thrilled to have been asked-- and her uneven grin, with one dimpled side pulling up higher than the other, may just have been the thing to change Liz's entire life course.

Liz had been accused of making split-second decisions many times before. This split-second decision was one with less risk but ironically more reward, because she decided right then that she wasn't going to look silly in front of Evvie. She straightened up slightly to match the other girl's height, slipped one hand in her pocket, and flashed her best grin-- the one that, hopefully, expressed that she was both very available and a dashing assassin-in-training.

"Must be a bigger city than people say. I'd thought I'd already run into all the beautiful girls."

Evvie's mouth half-opened in surprise and Liz almost smirked. Now who was speechless?

The boy Evvie had come in with nudged her, hard. "Say something to that!"

She elbowed him back distractedly, not looking away from Liz. "You-- you've probably stolen all their purses too!"

"I'm not a thief." Ask me what I am, she encouraged mentally, but Evvie didn't bite.

"Well, you must at least say that to all of them."

"Aw, no. Just to you."

Evvie's friend let out a little whistle and stepped away. Liz felt suddenly lightheaded at what amounted to privacy in the crowded tavern, but confident enough to ask, "Do you hang around here a lot?"

"Do you?"

"I might start."

Evvie looked really flustered now. "That's-- that's enough flirting."

"God, you're right, I'm sorry. You must be bored to death of everyone trying to flirt with you, I can't even imagine--"

"Do you ever stop?"

"No," said Liz, practically elated, because Evvie clearly couldn't keep herself from grinning again as she went slightly red.

"Well-- I do come here a lot."

"On Fridays, specifically?"

"I could come on Friday, specifically."

Liz grabbed Ash's filled tankard from the bar, telling herself to keep her cool for just one more minute. "Maybe I'll see you then."

"That would be some coincidence." Her only goodbye was a wide smile, but a date-- practically a date-- was more than enough for Liz.

She walked back to the table unable to hide her euphoria, barely registering Ash's complaints at how long it had taken.

"I take it you had a talk with the pretty girl?" Neal asked, still looking far too pleased with himself.

"Her name is Evvie. She's going to be here again Friday."

"Aw, no," Neal groaned. "You can't do Friday, that's when your final test is."

"What?"

"Kidding, kidding. You're clear."

"You see? Now I know it's not Friday. Before long you'll be telling me everything you know."

Neal rolled his eyes. "Ah, yes. How clever."

"And you never saw it coming."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unfortunately, on Thursday there was a punch Liz didn't see coming, so she was sporting an impressive black eye by Friday evening.

"It's not that noticeable," Neal told her.

"Liar. Do you see Evvie?"

He shrugged. "Not yet. You should have brought her flowers to offset your ruffian looks."

"Too late now. I'll buy her a drink instead."

"If only I understood romance as well as you do."

"Oh, shut up." But Neal's comments did make her nervous for all of five minutes until Evvie materialized next to her at the bar.

"What happened to you?" Was asked by both, regarding a black eye and a split lip. A beat later Evvie suggested, "Let's just both agree not to talk about it."

As it turned out, they had enough to talk about without broaching the topic.

Evvie had lived in Maenar all her life, while Liz had moved there five years before-- "From a little nothing-town outside Raelsia."

"As in the University? You learn anything there?"

"Sure, I learned how to flirt with pretty girls."

And Liz got to look suave and mysterious by refusing to explain what her job was.

"Too dangerous to say. You?"

"Oh, same."

"I think you're making that up."

Evvie only winked.

And of course the last topic before Neal pulled Liz out of the tavern.

"Can I see you Wednesday?" She asked, setting her heels against Neal's tugging.

"I think you better."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, because kissing right now would be painful, but it should be better by then."

"Thank God."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wednesday night Evvie suggested they take a walk for a change-- "Because I'm beginning to wonder if you exist outside this tavern. Do you disappear when you go outside?"

"Let's see." Liz hopped over the threshold and waited a moment. "Ooh, look at that. Still here."

"A miracle," said Evvie, and grabbed her hand. "Let's walk towards the water."

Liz would have agreed with Evvie at that point even if she's said "Let's walk towards that huge pit filled with poisonous snakes," so they set off on the downward slope of the hill.

"So how different is Maenar from Raelsia?"

"You realize I've been here for five years, right?"

Evvie nudged her in exasperation. "Humor me. I've never been a mile outside the city."

Liz shrugged, simultaneously pulling Evvie a little bit closer. "It's flatter. You don't have to hike to get places."

"This is hardly a hike."

"You only think that because you're used to having to hike to get places." She looked over to make sure Evvie thought that was funny. "And there aren't walls around it. The buildings just space out until you realize you've left the city."

"Must be less crowded then."

"Yeah, it's nicer than Maenar in a lot of ways. But boring." Also, she thought, there weren't people like Evvie.

"I heard the buildings are all connected," Evvie prompted.

"Not all of them. It's a little strange. At the center of Raelsia, where the main buildings of the University are, there are all these walkways and outdoor corridors connecting everything, so it almost looks like one huge building. It's easy to just accidentally walk into someone's house." She had a little flash of homesickness for the cool gray stone of those interconnecting halls, the arches cut into them and smoothed out by time. But she had meant it when she said Raelsia was boring. It was for scholars and students, not people like her.

"I heard some people think it was originally supposed to be a castle, way back before it was a city."

"You read a lot?"

"My aunt studied at the University a long time ago. She talks about Raelsia a lot."

Liz stopped walking, realizing they had nearly reached Lion's Gate. "We should turn back, right?"

"We could go down to the docks."

"Won't we get locked out?" The city gates closed at nightfall, just a few minutes away.

"Not if we happen to have two messenger passes with us," said Evvie, patting her pocket.

Liz raised an eyebrow. "You're a courier?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then you're a thief, and a hypocrite considering what you accused me of," she said with pretend shock.

Evvie pulled her towards the gates. "I didn't steal them. I... borrowed them. From my job."

"Right, your mystery danger job."

"Yeah. It has to do with distribution. Tonight I just happened to distribute these to myself."

Liz laughed. "I can get behind that logic."

They walked out of the gates, past a few stragglers hurrying to get inside before nightfall. The harbor spread out before them at the bottom of the slope, hemmed in by the crescent of Sailor's Row, the raggedy inns and taverns and warehouses that lay outside the walls. The water was deep blue and peaceful under the darkening sky, reflecting the last streaks of red of the fading sunset.

"I see why you wanted to come here," Liz admitted.

Evvie's uneven grin flashed bright as a star. "Can't see this in Raelsia, right?"

"There are a lot of things I can't see in Raelsia," Liz told her, smiling back. There was a wind coming off the water and running fingers through their hair, carrying the scent of sea salt and blowing away the thick city smell of smoke and waste.

"And I'm very thankful for that," Evvie said, reaching out to tuck one of Liz's wayward curls behind her ear. "Come on, they're singing by the water."

Still caught up in Evvie's hand brushing her cheek, Liz followed her down to the wooden docks that echoed with the soft splashes of the waves. Clumps of sailors who would be spending the night outside the walls were sitting on crates or with their legs dangling off the dock. Absentminded rhythms were tapped against the old wood, conversations melting into someone's low singing.

Liz plopped herself down near the edge, pulling Evvie with her. "Actually, I've figured out your real reason for bringing me here."

"What's that?"

"You wanted to cuddle but you were too shy to ask, so you brought me down where it's cold so I would ask you."

"I think that was your plan," Evvie said, tucking herself against Liz. "Why are you so warm, anyway?"

"I steal people's body heat and store it for later."

"I knew it."

Liz grinned, resting her head on Evvie's shoulder. "Do you come down here a lot?"

"Yeah. It's a nice break from the city."

"So you know what song this is?" One sailor had picked up a stringed instrument and begun picking out notes to accompany the singer, a simple tune to match the simple words.

"Sure, everyone knows it. Except Raelsians, apparently."

"I'm not a Raelsian anymore."

"Then you better learn it." Evvie began humming softly, letting the words of the song drift over them.

Waves and wind

And wind and sea

The ocean sings:

It's just you and me.

The sky has the moon

And the ground has trees

So I have you

And you'll have me.

So sings the water

So sings the sea

The sea, it sings,

Just you and me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Liz got back to the Court of Assassins that night, Neal was waiting for her, looking more serious than usual. They skipped the pleasantries.

"I figured out who your tavern girl is," he said.

"What do you mean?"

He motioned that he would walk with her to her room, and they crossed the courtyard together. "I mean, I thought she looked familiar, but I only just placed her. She's a Phoenix rebel, the niece of their leader. She was with her aunt when Roman met with them once to discuss an alliance."

"Did that go through?" Liz asked hopefully. It could be an excuse to see Evvie more.

"No, they rejected him. Are you getting this, Liz? She could be dangerous. I hate to say it, but she may even be using you to try and worm her way into the court.

"Evvie isn't trying to worm her way anywhere."

"Alright, but something else you should consider: maybe you were right that first night, when you said a relationship would be a distraction."

She paused in the entrance to her room. "Did you just admit I was right about something?"

"Focus on what I'm saying." He looked genuinely worried.

"Evvie isn't taking away from my training. I will be an assassin." She grinned. "And you will tell me something about the final test before it happens."

He sighed. "I hope you're taking this seriously."

"I am, Neal. I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She meant that promise. She just didn't consider going with Evvie to the docks two more times that week to be breaking it. She'd never had a relationship she felt this invested in, never spent this much time each day thinking about someone else. And if time spent with Evvie was time she wasn't spending training, so what? Everyone took time off. It was just that instead of spending that time with Neal and his friends, she spent it with Evvie.

And if Neal was going to keep glaring at her for it... he could shove off.

"Are we doing this again tomorrow?" Liz asked on Friday as she and Evvie lingered on a street corner.

Evvie smiled absentmindedly and brushed Liz's hair back so she could kiss her. "I have work tomorrow."

Liz didn't mention she had been informed what her work was. "Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"No, I get it, you hate me. It's cool, I--"

"Oh, stop it," she said, pushing her backwards in mock anger.

Liz only laughed. "Night after that?"

"I'm all yours."

"How about my place, then?" Liz's place was a room at the Assassin's Court, because assassins in training weren't allowed to live out of sight, but she could figure something out. "A quiet dinner."

"You don't strike me as the kind of girl who knows how to cook."

"How dare you."

Evvie snickered. "Prove me wrong."

"I can't, I don't know how."

Now Evvie was laughing fully, and it took a good minute to kiss goodbye. By the time Liz had made her way back to the Court she was yawning, but it was a good kind of tired. The kind of exhausted and elated she felt after a good day of training, but better, because she didn't feel empty and light, she felt full and grounded, like everything was sharper and clearer. Clear enough that she noticed Neal's disapproving glare looking down on her from a lighted window in the King's apartments, but she couldn't bother to care.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nice, clear night turned into soggy rain by late afternoon, driving practice indoors. Liz was dull and distracted as she sparred with Neal, who let her know with brutal honesty where she had not improved and how she needed to.

"Most assassinations are quick and done while the target is sleeping or otherwise unsuspecting," she told him. "I'm hardly ever going to use these skills."

"Assassins of the Court are also sworn to defend Roman's interests in the city. Sometimes that means fighting people who aren't unsuspecting," Neal said, disapproving, as he always was lately.

Liz was happy to end practice soon after that to wash up and have dinner with some of the assassins closer to her age. Still, she couldn't help but register that Neal was still radiating disapproval. It was only when he disappeared from the common eating area to talk privately with a messenger that she could relax, and after dinner she deliberately escaped him to hang out with other assassins as night fell.

"Hey, how come you're never around?" Ash asked her as they all sprawled out on the rooftop in the darkness and light drizzle.

She raised an eyebrow that he couldn't see. "Am I not around right now?"

"Sure, but you aren't usually anymore."

"I have a secret double life." It kind of felt like it. Nights with Evvie were a different sphere than the Court of Assassins.

"If you just tell people that then remind me to never tell you secrets."

"Alright, Ash. Never tell me secrets."

"Smartass."

She pushed damp hair off her face, wishing Evvie was doing it instead. "That's what Neal would say."

"That's because Neal's pissed at you," someone else offered, and they laughed.

Liz made a face up at the stars. "I know. He was lecturing me and then he was giving me the silent treatment but not leaving me alone."

"So he didn't tell you what that messenger he spoke to was about?" Ash asked. "I was trying to find out."

"Oh, I know what that was about," said another girl, propping herself up on her elbow. "They were just keeping tabs on something going on in the Maze. Some rebel trouble. People got hurt and Roman wanted to know if it would lead to an opening for that alliance he wants. Personally--"

That was enough for Liz. She scrambled up, feeling dizzy, and ran to the edge of the roof, letting herself down so quickly she nearly fell. On unsteady feet she backed away from the ladder and knocked into Neal.

"Don't do this, Lisbetha." He was deadly serious. But she was angry, and scared, and that was a potent combination.

She pushed him away with force she hadn't been able to use in training. "You weren't even going to tell me, you bastard."

"Listen, you can't do this. The final test is tonight. They'll wake you in the middle of the night for it, to surprise you. You need to be in your room when they come." He wasn't just serious; he was determined, filled with urgency. "I can't let you go."

"I have to."

"No, you don't. She won't know that you had any idea of what happened, so she can't be angry. But Roman will know if the most promising assassin in training misses her final test, and he will be angry. Don't lose all the work you've put into this." He searched her face for any hesitation. "Come on. Let it go, tease me for telling you about the test, just don't throw all this away."

But the dark look on her face held no hesitation. They both knew the test had become irrelevant the moment Evvie asked for her name. It was his fault, but out of his hands. There was nothing else he could say as Liz pushed past him, and the rain poured down heavier than it had that afternoon, and she left for the last time.

Maenar at night was purple and black, and the rain added glints of silver and treacherous slickness. She was soaked within a minute and she kept skidding through puddles as she ran. Her vision blurred with more than raindrops. Every building was the same in the darkness, and she was searching each sign for the Fire Bird. She knew that was the meeting place for the Phoenix so surely Evvie would be there-- she had to be.

But God, where was the inn? She'd never been there before, and she could hardly see, and maybe she'd already passed it. And maybe it made no difference whether or not she found it because maybe Evvie--

"Who's there?"

Liz spun around from the sign she'd been trying to figure out and found herself blinded by light from an open doorway, the silhouette of a guard standing in it.

"Evvie?" She asked, her voice clogged. Before she had an answer she'd slipped and slid to the doorway and grabbed her warm hands in her cold ones.

"Liz, what are you doing?" Evvie pulled her closer, beneath the door's archway.

"You're alright?"

"I'm fine, I'm okay. How did you know--?"

She shook her head, clenching her hands tighter. Evvie didn't complain. She was fine, she was okay-- but Liz was shaking. "What would you say--" She struggled for a moment and then it came pouring out like the rain.

"What would you say if I told you I was training to be an assassin but I've been paying more attention to you than to my practice, and I found out that some rebels got hurt so I blew off my final test to come find you so I'm never going to be part of the Court but I've realized that I'd rather just be someone who can see you whenever I want and come running after you anytime you get hurt, so maybe I'd better be a rebel too?"

Evvie tugged one hand from Liz's grasp to tuck a wet lock of hair behind her ear, then pulled her into a kiss.

Finally, she said, one arm around Liz's neck, "I'd say I think you're right."