Yuze was laughing softly over Chenzhou's letter when Fox slipped into his office.
"What's so funny?" The fox mask gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the window, and it took Yuze a second to realize the other man had asked him a question.
He shook himself and ducked his head, confused at the strange reaction. "Chenzhou's letter. Eirian's father is throwing a ball to celebrate her cousin's coronation."
Fox cocked his head to the side, moving to stand in the sunlight. "And that's a bad thing?"
The amusement from the letter came back. "It's an interesting thing when he didn't bother to show up and pay respects and hasn't spoken to any of them. Apparently, he sent the notification for the party to all of the court without warning the King or Eirian first."
"Interesting family dynamic." There was a hint of confusion in Fox's voice.
Yuze, who'd been stuck hearing about the Soliel family drama since Eirian had first become a candidate to marry Chenzhou and had become unwillingly brainwashed into enjoying it, so long as he didn't have to deal with it directly, cheerfully unloaded all of it on Fox.
Despite not being able to see Fox's face, the gentle shake of his shoulders when Yuze told him about some of Eirian's more risque adventures and Francis's first attempts at wooing his daughter's peer, and some of the more outrageous demands they'd both made of Eirian and the rest of the Soliel family, was enough to encourage Yuze to continue.
He talked more that afternoon than he had in one sitting in years.
Fox eventually pulled one of the chairs into the sunlight and sprawled out, encouraging Yuze to continue with pointed questions every once in a while.
He didn't normally hang out in Yuze's office; no one but Yuze did for obvious reasons, but his presence was surprisingly comfortable.
And welcome in a way that only Akari's had been before.
And that was a long time ago.
Yuze fell silent when he realized Fox had actually fallen asleep in the sunlight. The spy had a mere inch on Yuze, but his long limbs gave the illusion of more. He wasn't overly bulky, but he was strong and moved with surprising fluidity. Most of the soldiers of the Crimson Army were built like soldiers, sturdy and stable. Yuze's spies had a bit more variety to them, and Fox was really the only one who could have passed for an actual soldier.
And Yuze still didn't have any idea what he actually looked like.
He didn't even know the color of his skin. Was he pale like the moon or dark like the earth? Did his eyes curve? Were his lips full? Did he have scars? He had to have scars.
Everyone had scars of some kind.
Sometimes he was sure that Fox's were peaking through. When he insisted the tribes couldn't be trusted, or the way he picked on Finn and his friends like an annoying older sibling.
There was a story there, one that Yuze was certain carried more heartache than anything else.
People never tried so hard to forget pleasant things.
But it was an unspoken rule that spies never pried into the lives of their fellow spies. All of them had things they wanted to keep hidden or forget. Only the gods knew how unstable they'd all be if they couldn't pretend that everything was okay.
Fox always seemed so stable.
His trauma was probably the stuff of nightmares.
Yuze felt foolish still carrying his resentment towards his parents when it had been over a decade since he'd last seen them, and really, what they'd done to him wasn't the worst. People had eaten their children during the last famine that had struck Song and Snow.
Getting sold didn't seem too bad in comparison.
***
Finn's head slowly dropped until his chin hit his chest and jerked back up.
Patrick was sprawled out next to him, sound asleep.
Emmy yawned and stretched out her legs.
Finn had been determined to work through all their meal times in an effort to make actual progress in the Inventories, but as soon as they'd had full bellies, both boys had dozed off.
Emmy didn't mind the break. She didn't mind working through it either since she didn't really have anything else to do.
Snake was lying low. Probably because Fox was hanging around Lord Rong.
Emmy wasn't sure why the pretty female spy was even bothering to try anymore. Lord Rong was pretty clearly not interested, but Snake was almost willfully ignoring all the signs.
It made her wonder if there was more to her interest in the First Eye, but Lord Rong had asked her to focus on the Inventories. With Beng Shai's proposed peace, tracking down any magical artifacts that had made their way into the borderlands via the black roads was more important than ever.
Lord Ye and Lord Rong were trying to prepare for any possible surprises. There were artifacts in the vault that could do serious damage to the Camelia's forces if they ended up in the wrong hands.
Finn was desperate to find something and prove himself. Emmy didn't think Lord Ye, the Princess, or Lord Rong cared about that, though they did seem surprisingly fond of Finn.
There were probably a lot of children in those big, wealthy families who felt invisible because they didn't fit in. And the Vermeers were famous for being so talented.
Honestly, Emmy was surprised he wasn't even more messed up.
Maybe he was, and it just hadn't come out yet.
Finn's chin dropped to his chest and stayed there this time. She watched him list to the side, sliding down the wall so slowly that he didn't even wake up. He ended up curled up next to Patrick, both of them oblivious to any danger.
Whatever Fox and Snake were doing, and if it was just some weird competition over Lord Rong, Emmy was going to gut both of them.
If it was something worse…
Emmy didn't want to think about that.
Her belly was full, her brother was safe, and they had a roof over their heads.
What more could anyone want?
~tbc