The Changeling

36

When Lovou shut the door to her quarters, Cetlali stumbled forward with a sense of exhaustion taking over her. She got to the table before leaning heavily upon it with a gentle sob.

"Vae Cetlali!" Seun's voice rang out.

Cetlali shied away from the voice, scolding herself for forgetting she might have been there.

"I've got'er," Lovou took measured steps towards Cetlali.

Seun leapt between them, brandishing a large kitchen knife out of nowhere and waving it right in his face. "You don't touch her without her permission!" She snarled with vehemence.

"I see the way you look at her —!"

"You ever think to check and see the way she looks at me?!" Lovou snarled right back.

"Seun!" Cetlali begged. She slipped herself in front of Lovou and pushed him back as she tried to supplicate her friend. "Please stop Seun, it's—it's not him, he won't hurt me!" Seun didn't look convinced. Cetlali growled, "Put the knife down. He's... He's my... He's my friend!" she insisted, finally saying it out loud. That was really only half of it. What she felt for him was complex and even more confusing.

Seun stared hard at Lovou for a while. With a look back at Cetlali, her eyes assessed every last bit of her in an instant and picked up on something that made her relent. She glared at Lovou once more before dropping the knife to her side. "My apologies, Vao."

"Not a —," he bit back his harsh, instinctual response to honorifics. He might have to get used to hearing it, being the new owner of a holdfast and whatever dregs of a fortune remained. "It's fine."

She nodded once and then looked at Cetlali.

"Apologies Vae Cetlali. I just worry for you, that's all." Her eyes trailed along towards the

general direction of Lovou with her scathing words. "I see too many men taking advantage of their station around these parts, and I know the Empress couldn't bear to see you hurt."

Cetlali smiled at her, honestly, "Thank you Seun, but I promise you if there's one person I can trust outside of Athua and Masha, it's Lovou."

Seun gave a stern nod. She walked to the table and put the knife down, pointed it at Lovou, and gave him a look sharp enough to make the blade seem inconsequential. She bowed in front of Cetlali. "I'll be in my quarters if you need me."

"Thank you, Seun." Cetlali smiled her sweetest with a bow to Seun, and she left.

A silence extended in the space. Cetlali exhaled and walked back over to the table so she could stare at it while she thought.

Lovou spoke first. "How many friends you got that would kill for you?"

Cetlali snorted, sounding sad. "What other sort of friend is there worth having, if not one you'd kill for?"

Lovou's grim chuckle preceded a shrug of agreement. His shoulders sagged a bit. His voice softened as he watched her coiling in on herself. "Are you alright after... all... that?"

Cetlali's laugh came out mirthless as she leaned upon the table with tired shakes of her head. "Never have been, not since the first time his touches started to linger when I was ten."

She heard his gauntlets creak, but didn't see him move.

Cetlali shook her head with a furious finality. "I tried for so long to pretend nothing was wrong. He treated it like it was supposed to be normal. No one seemed to care or notice, but I knew. I always knew." She grit her teeth as tears pooled in her eyes. Cetlali drove her knuckles into the table, trying to swap out one pain for another. With a snarl on her lips, she turned to Lovou. "How am I supposed to walk