Hey, so I'm working on getting back into writing mode. I really needed a break after my break. (Because I broke my leg. Get it? Eh? Eh? Bah.) Let me save you all from my abysmal sense of humor with something I really wish could've made it into Royal Assassin.

This was going to be part of the chapter where Ban briefs Prince Gain and the Arcane Knights on the current situation. This was originally planned to be a much more expositional scene. I planned on using it to give a huge rundown on everything, like the war in Gaulatia against the Horde, Sasha and the Lord's Alliance, the known locations of the old masters, and all sorts of things. Very much a Return of the Jedi style sort of briefing where the larger picture is presented. Ultimately, there's just too much to get through without it being boring. So, I put bits of it into other scenes, and I think the way exposition is handled will get some revisions when it comes time to do the beta draft. About 75% of the exposition got cut before the rough draft was even done. That word count was better utilized for character moments, specifically the time spent on Kimpo and Ban.

There was one other character interaction I wanted to have, but-- again-- word count. The chapter is already one of the longer ones of the story so far, and I needed to trim it up. One of the casualties was a fun but inconsequential reunion between two particular characters that haven't spoken since Sky Woman.

Without further ado, here it is. Takes place a few minutes before Vintus crashed the party.

***

Before Ban could begin briefing the prince and the Dragon Lords on the current situation, someone else came scurrying in with a frazzled-looking selkie on her heels.

"Ban," Enfri called. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Reyn says some of the king's delegation teleported ahead to... Ack!"

Gain turned at the waist to see what the outburst was all about, and his eyes went wide with shock. Slowly, he turned back around to face the empress. Ban furrowed his brow and stepped away from the table to come slowly around it, not obviously, but ready for what may come of this encounter.

Enfri bobbed a curtsy, and Reyn followed suit. Inaz and Mevek followed them in, and both were immediately at peak alert status.

"Err... hello," Enfri said.

"Winds and storms," Gain murmured. He turned his whole body to face her. "It is you."

Enfri straightened and glanced towards Ban while smoothing her skirt. Ban couldn't remember seeing her this out of sorts in months.

Gain took a step towards her, and a note of tension washed across every knight and dragon in the room. He didn't appear to notice. Enfri had Gain's undivided attention as he looked her up and down from head to toe. He gave a terse laugh. "You got taller, Sky Woman."

Enfri puffed her cheeks out a little and looked a bit peeved by the observation. "And you got older, Goodman Hunter."

"Majesty," Reyn scolded, "are you not aware who this is?"

"Oh, I know full well," Enfri said, crossing her arms. "What we have here is a blustering horse thief."

Kiir and Devara exchanged confused looks.

"You stole him back before long," Gain pointed out, his eyes narrowing. "Last I saw of you was when you trampled me flat."

Enfri scoffed. "Considering the circumstances, I feel perfectly justified. Just be glad I was unarmed and never ridden a warhorse before. If I tried it now, it'd be a different story."

Ban drew closer, step by step, and wondered if Enfri had forgotten how diplomacy was supposed to work. Or, if she'd just taken leave of her senses. Gain and Enfri approached each other. The Dragon Lords stepped away from the table, the mighty tensed, Inaz bared an inch of his blade, Reyn looked close to pulling her hair out, and young Prince Kiir put his back to Devara and nervously gripped his sword in preparation of pulling steel. Every set of eyes was on the confrontation between prince and empress.

"There's something I've been meaning to set straight," Gain said in a low growl, "ever since I learned your survival was going to be known as the didactic coterie's historic failure."

Enfri raised her brows, unintimidated. "Oh? And what might that be, Your Highness?"

"Demand a refund," Gain barked. "Your blustering sutures took on an infection a week after you stitched them in."

"Of course they did," Enfri said sufferingly. "I warned you that you shouldn't go off riding right away. The wound needed time to heal, and bouncing around in a saddle is murder on sutures. Did you even use the salve I gave you?"

Gain frowned. "What salve?"

"The salve, you lump. The blustering salve. I said put it on every time you change the bandages, at least twice a day."

Gain winced and rubbed at the back of his head. "I... err... maybe remember something like that. Must've gotten lost in my saddlebags."

Enfri sighed. "You see, this is why I started writing care instructions down and handed them to the goodwife."

"Aye, that's fair," Gain chuckled. "In truth, Majesty, it was only a small bit of redness. Cleared up soon enough, and now there's hardly a scar to be found."

Enfri smiled. "Well, at least there's that."

The tense atmosphere turned on a silver mark. Just like that, it was gone. The Dragon Lords relaxed, and Kiir hastily removed his hand from his sword. Furthermore, if Ban didn't miss his guess, Gain was looking fondly on Enfri. As if he liked her.

The prince bowed his head. "I've never had a contract I've taken pleasure from, Majesty. There are several I know will haunt me to my pyre. Chief among those has been a contract I took a year before now, one for a young woman who quite possibly saved my life. My duty must always take precedence over honor, and so I am pleased my duty demands I now set that contract aside forever."

Enfri reached out and ran a hand down his arm. "I appreciate that, Highness." A glimmer of mischief ghosted across her face. "And just between you, me, and everyone in earshot, of all the assassins I found in my house five years ago, you were my favorite."

Gain's grin was incredulous. "Not Jin?"

"Winds, are you serious? I hadn't yet gotten used to how intense she gets. She scared me out of my wits." She turned her head to look at Reyn. "But for the official record... Reyn, could you jot down the treasury owes Prince Gain Algara two gold marks?"

Gain held up a palm. "Really, Majesty, it was a jest that... Wait, two gold?"

"Oh, I know," Enfri said. "I tried to talk Jin down to one, but she wouldn't have it. Even one was too much by half."

Ban was already returning to his place at the map. He gave his head a slow shake as he went. By the time he was back where he started, Enfri had greeted Devara and Kiir more conventionally.

"I won't hold you all up anymore," Enfri said, backing towards the door. "Just came to pass on something that apparently wasn't needed."

Ban felt he needed to chime in. "Off to where, specifically?"

Ban doubted anyone else noticed how her expression fell by a single degree.

"Giving and receiving sendings" she said. "Every ally we have need to be told."

Ban nodded. "Spirits guide you, my empress."

"Again and forever," the Dragon Lords said as one.

Gain resumed his position at the map as the empress withdrew. He found Ban staring at him as the Dragon Lords looked on. "What?" he asked.

"Can't really help it, can you?" Ban asked in sympathy. The knights and dragons all around gave nods, taking his meaning at once. "She got to everyone here, too. There's no escaping it."

Gain grimaced. "That girl has to be in the running for most dangerous woman in the world."

"Just wait until she's good and hoggled off. That's when she turns terrifying."

A couple others seconded that.

"I've been on the receiving end of this, Marshal. You'll hear no arguments from Althandor."

***

Gain has sorta been a casualty of most of the cuts I make in the series. I think he's had more cut scenes than any other secondary character. Honestly, I'm not too broken up about it, because there hasn't exactly been a clamor for more Gain. That being said, I think I would've liked him to have a bigger role in at least this book. Oh well, because who knows what narrative hurdles I'll have moving forward where he might just be the thing I need to move things along.

Oh, almost forgot. This won't count as a privy post if I don't post something really stupid, so have this accurate representation of myself whenever I'm asked what it was I wished for.

Carry on.