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“Aad? Are you there?”
“Hi El, yes, it’s me. What’s up?”
“Oh, good. Hi.”
“…”
“…”
“… El? Is there a reason why you’re calling at six in the morning?”
“Six – damn, I didn’t realize. Did I wake you up?”
“Don’t worry about it. Is everything all right?”
“… I think I messed up. I need your help.”
* * *
They were in a café somewhere in the middle of Romania, discussing their network over brunch and dessert. Lost in thoughts, Liesel was sipping at her cup of coffee and enjoying the late morning, when El unexpectedly asked her the question.
Liesel blinked, pulled out of her musings. "What did you just say?"
El stared down, her hands clutched together in front of her half-empty plate. "Look, it's okay. You got the project off the ground, but you have your spot in London, so-"
Apparently, Liesel had heard her correctly the first time. "You think I'm leaving."
El frowned at her. "Aren’t you?"
She was, but that wasn't the point. "Why would you think that?" Liesel shot back, trying to gain time.
El murmured something inaudible.
Liesel clucked her tongue. "I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong. Talk to me."
“Never mind. You know what, forget I said anything. Maybe I should plan our next date," said El uncomfortably.
Liesel was alarmed. “Why? Did you not like it here?”
El looked pained. “No, that’s not–”
“You asked me if I was going to break up with you. Then you want to plan our next date, which you never do. Something must be wrong.”
* * *
“So what was wrong?”
“…This is going to sound really bad.”
“Is it I’m-going-to-be-turned-into-a maw-mouth bad?”
“Well, no–”
“Then hit me.”
“Well…”
“El, come on. What happened?”
“Well… you know Liesel. She’s a perfectionist. She books the travel in advance so the journey is never too bad, and she makes sure the hotels always have bathtubs and air conditioning and a view on some trees and stuff. And wherever we go out, the food is great, which means she probably reads all those Google reviews in advance; and even though we’re busy, she always has a hike planned for us, or some sights to see, a concert, something–"
“So where’s the problem?”
“…”
“Hey, you wanted my advice. I can’t help when I don’t know what happened.”
“Okay. So – well, I noticed that – oh this is so stupid.”
“El. What. Happened.”
“…They served tea without milk.”
“…”
“…”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“It never happened before! Every time we went out, the place served tea with milk. I’m pretty sure she checked in advance – “
“All right, your girlfriend’s a control freak. Still – what the hell?”
“…so I asked her if she was going to dump me, and then she asked me why, and I had to make something up because obviously, this is insane. And then I realized that she always plans these dates, and that I don’t even know her birthday, never mind half the things that she apparently knows about me, and… I’m such an idiot, Liu.”
“…Well. You said it.”
* * *
El gave her some excuse about being insecure and threw in a story from the Scholomance about all the times she expected her alliance to walk out on her.
It was touching. It was interesting, and Liesel generally appreciated El sharing things like that with her, only now she knew her girlfriend was deflecting. El had clearly figured out that something was going on. And now Liesel was in a bind.
She was irritated with herself for the yet unknown mistake. She wasn’t a very empathic person (they had Alfie for that), or kind (that was El, once you unwrapped the layers of sarcasm), or stupidly noble and self-sacrificing (Orion Lake says hello). What Liesel did – what none of the others could do, with privilege and power and saving the world getting in the way – was pay attention to all the details; not just big things like birthdays and organizing their schedules and knowing her lovers’ shoe sizes and allergies, but the little things too, like the fact that El always checked the shower-heads for amphisbaena, even in mundane hotels where they couldn't possibly survive; or that she simultaneously loved big fluffy towels and felt vaguely guilty about using them; or that she ate chestnut spread whenever she was feeling sad, even though she didn’t particularly like the taste.
See, Liesel was good at this.
Until, obviously, she wasn’t. She had screwed up somehow, and that couldn’t happen. Liesel was the safety net, the one who looked out for these careless, impossible, impractical people that mattered to her. Mistakes were not an option.
“Tell me,” she insisted when El remained silent.
But now El was looking at her with some sort of deep thought going on – and wasn't that inconvenient. She slowly shook her head. “Look, you know I have all these big plans – and they’re important, we both know that, and I’m the only one who can really change things – but you’re important too.”
Liesel shook her head impatiently. "Don’t. I know what we are to each other.”
El frowned. “No, that’s not – Liesel–”
"I'm going to Munich," Liesel said abruptly, to stop El from saying the wrong thing. Also, it was true.
“…Oh.”
“I’ll be back,” Liesel added after a pause. “Well. I’ll try to come back,” she amended.
“You’re going to confront her,” El said understandingly. She was now watching her with a mix of worry, faint disapproval and guilt. “I can’t come with you.”
“Obviously. I’m not expecting you to.”
“I know, just… I know.” El ran a hand through her hair in frustration. “I wish I could help.”
“No, you don’t,” Liesel corrected her. “El, it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine,” El protested, clearly torn. “Look – I would have torn down Beijing for Liu. I don’t want you to think you mean less to me, okay? Just… I can’t start a war with Munich. I can’t.”
Unsaid went that she might, if Liesel put her in that position.
Liesel was touched. Offended, that El thought even for a second that she’d be stupid enough to make such a mess of things – but also touched. She hadn’t known she meant that much to El.
“Trust me. You won’t have to.”
El watched her for a long time. “All right. I trust you. And good luck.”
“Thank you,” said Liesel. She stood up. “I actually need to leave early today. These are the latest sightings,” she reached into her bag and handed El a slim file with the list of suspected maw-mouth locations.
“All right.”
“I’ll be out of touch the rest of the week. You can call me after that. Or I’ll call you,” she said as she waived over the waiter and pulled out a stack of banknotes. “The cake was delicious, thank you. This should cover the bill. Keep the change.”
“Liesel – be careful.”
Liesel shot her a brief smile. “It’s okay, El, really. But I do need to go.”
She couldn’t focus, not with all the things on her mind. She had to leave before she let El discover more of her plans.
* * *
”Do you need me to go with her?”
“What? No, that’s not why I called you.”
“I could if you wanted.”
“’Orion Lake, hired muscle.’ Between you and Liesel, her stepmother wouldn't stand a chance. Tempting, but no.”
“Okay. So… why are you telling me all this?”
* * *
It was Caterina and Antonio who came up with the idea. Once she heard about it, Liesel had to admit that a daycare for little indie kids had some merit. Naturally, going about it the way her classmates proposed in their ignorance was just plain idiotic, but...
They didn’t need a maw-mouth bound, shiny modern enclave – they didn’t have the mana for it anyway. It'd be hard enough to hustle up enough for one of El's golden little shelters.
But if they could do that, the benefits were clear.
Firstly, every enclave in the world now knew that El was immensely powerful. It would mollify the old enclavers somewhat if they could see El doing something. And since El was busy killing off maw-mouths, it was up to Liesel to handle the diversion.
Moreover, a daycare enclave was also a proof of concept. It was one thing to offer a golden enclave to the people of Beijing and Dubai; they consented as a last-ditch option. Outside those special circumstances, why would anybody risk all their hard-gained mana on something new and untested when the old option worked so well and was currently on discount? Liesel had (barely) refrained from saying it out loud, but it was really no wonder that nobody took El’s offer of replacing their foundation. Their classmates might take that chance one day, but they also knew El; knew her and trusted her judgment. The rest of the world? Bah.
It would be hard enough to sell people on the Golden enclaves once they believed in them. Without someone taking that first chance, their efforts were doomed to fail. But if someone took that chance – then, eventually, enough would see the benefit of El's new option to shake up the state of things.
The daycare would change things in the Scholomance as well. It wasn’t just that the enclave kids came with resources that the indies could only dream of; they also came with a network of contacts. But a daycare where indie kids would meet – well, they would still lack resources, but they might come in already having friends, associates, allies.
With the decreased amount of mals in the world, a daycare would also take away some of the appeal of the big enclaves. A single mal or two was something an adult wizard could generally handle; it was the children and adolescents who were vulnerable. Maw-mouths and such were another matter, but against the most dangerous mals, even an enclave might not be enough.
The first daycare would be just a start. Once it was successful, there would be more, until they became a whole network around the world, and then...
Liesel clenched her fists so hard her nails dug painfully into her palms.
On its own, it would be a hit to the status quo. Combined with El's hunting spree? It would change the world.
Also, more children would live. There was that, too.
She would tell El all of that - eventually. First, she needed to know for certain that it was actually doable.
El could not risk a distraction. Besides, Liesel knew the pain of disappointment all too well.
Alfie would help and Antonio and Caterina were already on board, but that alone would not be enough. Liesel gathered her resolve and booked a flight to Munich.
* * *
“Alfie?”
“El! It’s so good to hear from you!”
“Yeah, you too. … Listen, I know I haven’t exactly been around. We should make some time to see each other.”
“It’s fine. Liesel told me you’ve been busy.”
“Yes, about that… I need a favor.”
* * *
The email from El came at 6 a.m. on Monday.
Date ideas (Tick Yes ☑ or No ☒ ):
- Dinner (choose Italian/Mexican/Indian/other) ☐
- Movie (romantic/comedy/action/thriller/other) ☐
- Concert (which music?) ☐
- Dancing (club? classical?) ☐
- Amusement park ☐
- Quiet night at home ☐
- Swimming ☐
- Hiking ☐
- Mal hunting ☐
Let me know if any of these sound fun. I hope you’re okay! Call if you need me!!
See you soon (I hope),
El
Liesel’s eyebrows went up. What the hell?
* * *
“She knows she screwed up,” Aadhya told Liesel as she picked her up at the airport.
“Screwed up how?” Liesel asked with a frown. Did someone outside their circle discover that El was killing the maw-mouths? That would be a problem they didn’t need. She started running her head through possible solutions, from bringing them in on the project (wouldn’t that be nice) to bribery (oh, the sweet irony of that) to intimidation (possible) and murder.
Aadhya sighed. "Just have some mercy on her, please? El can be a bit thick-headed but she's a good person."
“I know that,” Liesel retorted with irritation. Whoever found out about El’s quest, they would deal with it.
(Hopefully, murder would not be required. It had been hard enough to attempt once, when she thought El was rubbing Lake in her face and it had been a matter of both revenge and survival.
Speaking of that… Hmm. She had never actually watched El and Orion together. Now that was an idea).
“Liesel. Please,” said Aadhya. “Look, from what she told me, you have a right to be pissed. Just… try not to eat her alive, okay?”
Liesel rolled her eyes. “All right, fine! I won’t! I’m not a monster.”
Aadhya looked at her from behind the driver’s wheel. Then she nodded. “Yes, I know. And I think you’re good for her.”
“Glad to have your approval,” Liesel bit back.
Still, it felt a bit nice.
Despite all of that, Liesel hadn’t paid Aadhya’s words much attention. She was surprised, then, when Aadhya parked in front of a small restaurant. “El is waiting for you in the back,” she said.
Exasperated yet intrigued, Liesel went in.
There was a table by the side, full of plates with various foods, plus a carafe with water and another with something orange – juice, probably. The place was lit up by candlelight. Several vases with roses were discreetly arranged around. A small table for two was on the other side of the room, and there was El.
Spotting her, El stood up and rushed to hug her. “Liesel! You’re all right!”
“Obviously,” said Liesel caustically. She put down her suitcase and glanced around the room. “What’s all this?” she demanded.
El let go. “Sit down with me?” she asked.
Liesel bit a retort. “Fine.” Belatedly, she remembered her promise to Aadhya, and forced out a smile. “Hi, El.”
El tentatively smiled at her. “Hey. Hi.” She took a deep breath and then pointed to the two wine glasses on their table. “Red or white? Or do you want some food first?”
“Red. Food sounds good,” Liesel admitted. The flight had been long, and she was tired. She hadn’t been ready to be thrown into a date situation and this definitely looked like one. She tried to let go of her irritation.
“Okay. There’s spaghetti, or some sort of fish – flounder, I think. And meatballs with tomato sauce. Or we can order something else–”
“Meatballs are fine,” Liesel cut her off. She did not love tomato sauce, but she was hungry. And she wanted to know what all this was about.
They clunk glasses and ate mostly in silence, only exchanging a bit of meaningless chitchat about the upcoming start of new school year and Orion’s looming return to the Scholomance. At last, Liesel finished her dinner. She pushed away her plate and cut right through the bullshit.
“All right. Tell me what all this is about.”
El took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’ve been thoughtless and selfish and I took you for granted, and I know you said it was okay but it’s not. You’re important too, and I’ll try to do better.”
“Wow,” said Liesel, momentarily lost for words. “Uh, okay.”
So she was right; this was a date. Apparently El was having some sort of a crisis, and this was the result.
Ugh. She hated the smell of roses.
“Okay?” El echoed. She paused, then she shook her head. “Liesel – I’m serious. You’ve done all the work in this relationship since the beginning. You’ve planned all our dates, you’ve been there for me whenever I was upset, you’ve put your life on hold whenever I called – and you never asked for anything back. For fuck’s sake, I didn’t even know when your birthday was until last week.”
“November 18th,” Liesel answered automatically.
“Right, I know now. I asked Alfie. My point is, that’s not an equal relationship. Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave–”
“Of course I don’t want to leave, you idiot." El tensed, then she relaxed a bit. Liesel sighed. "Look. I like you. Okay? I don't expect you to act all girlfriend-ly or plan our dates or stuff like that. I do that. You make sure we have a world worth living in."
"And that’s good enough for you?" El asked doubtfully.
Yes. "You're there when we're together," said Liesel simply. "I can't ask for more."
El shook her head. "That's not fair to you."
Liesel snorted. "Right. Because saving London, Beijing and hundreds of Scholomance students for practically nothing was fair."
"That was different. This is between us."
"And you’re so used to being a martyr and the class loser, you can’t accept that you might not always come worse off with somebody else.”
El winced.
Don’t eat her alive, Aadhyia’s voice screamed in Liesel’s head. Oops.
“You’re generous and self-sacrificing to a fault, and you don’t even see it,” said Liesel. Better. “Someone needs to take care of you, too. I like to think I’m good at that.”
“You are,” El hurried to reassure her. “You always make things go smooth, it seems like you know everything–”
“Not everything, apparently,” Liesel said with a hint of humor. She was starting to unwind; it helped that her blood sugar was returning to normal levels and that she finally had a grasp on the situation. “I did not know you planned this. And, by the way, I still don’t know how you figured out I was going to Munich.”
“It doesn’t matter–”
“It matters to me,” Liesel stressed out. El Higgins management 101 was her job now. It didn’t matter that she enjoyed the hell out of it; that she genuinely liked El’s company and wanted her to like her too. Somewhere on the way, she had made a mistake, and it bugged her that she didn’t know what it was. “I really want to know,” she repeated when El stayed silent.
“Fine!” El huffed, running a hand through her hair. “It was the milk, okay? It was thoughtless and I’m stupid and selfish and can we please not talk about it anymore? ”
“Milk?” Liesel blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
“…”
“Tell me,” she commanded, adding a bit of a glare for good measure.
El dropped her face into her hands. “Can’t you let this go? Please?”
“I never let things go,” Liesel answered automatically.
El sighed. “Fine. It was the milk for my tea. Or rather, the fact that it wasn’t there. You always make sure there is some, because unlike me, you’re thoughtful and you pay attention, and you think about the smallest details while I didn’t even know your fucking birthday. I said I was sorry, okay? And I am going to do better, I swear.”
“Milk. Of course.” Right, because the British people were freaks who liked to ruin completely good tea. She couldn’t believe that she forgot.
“I’m sorry,” El repeated helplessly.
“Yes, well, I was distracted. And I forgive you.” That was what you said, right? Besides, now that she knew what the problem had been, Liesel was beginning to find the whole situation amusing.
Time to change the subject. “Listen, I have a project for you.”
El leaned forward. “A project?”
“Remember Antonio and Caterina? I found a way to make it happen.”
“You mean… the indie kids enclave?” El asked for clarification.
“The daycare, yes. What else?” Patience, Liesel reminded herself before she continued to bite El’s head off. “We can put up one of your enclaves. It won’t take much of your time, but you will have to help, and you need to be the public face of it, or it’s not going to work.”
She was rambling a bit. She never rambled. But she knew why it was.
She was nervous about this. She wanted this – wanted the project to work, wanted to have her side come ahead for once (not her side anymore; she was an enclaver now – only, most of these days, she didn’t feel like one), she wanted the kids to have an option that she and her mom never did.
Most of all, she wanted El to like it too.
“How?” El asked. “I mean, that’s amazing, but where would you get the mana?”
“That is the issue, obviously,” Liesel admitted. “But I think I got us started,” she said and opened her suitcase, which up until now had been lying on the ground next to her.
The case she pulled out was the size of an unusually large shoebox. Inside, there were sixty crystals arranged in three neat layers. All of them were quietly humming with mana.
El gasped. “Where’d you get that? Liesel–”
“My loving stepmother sends her regards,” said Liesel dryly.
“What–”
“She owed me my mother’s life. I gave her a choice. She could spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder, wondering when I’m going to get even. Or she could pay me off.”
“And she agreed?” El asked, disbelieving.
Mirthlessly, Liesel chuckled. “Oh, she didn’t want to, but in the end she saw reason. This is her life savings.” She paused. “I also might have mentioned you as my girlfriend. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Are you kidding? You’re a genius! I thought you were going to kill her!” El laughed. Then she turned serious. “I almost hopped on the plane to Germany. If she had hurt you…” She paused. “You never let things go; you said it yourself. But you would let her off for just some mana?”
“For this project? Absolutely.” For you, she didn’t say.
Her mother was dead. Liesel had loved her – and she had hated, she still hated her murderer with every fiber of her being.
But revenge would get her nothing. And her stepmother was just one cog in a bigger wheel. The whole system was what needed to be brought down. She wanted justice, fairness, accountability – for all of them. The maw-mouth project would get her that – and the daycare now, too.
El stared at her. “I love you,” she said earnestly.
What! Liesel hadn’t even explained why the daycare was such a big deal. She was almost miffed by El’s easy acceptance.
She stared into her girlfriend’s bright eyes full of joy, and her irritation faded away. “I love you too,” she whispered.
She melted into El’s arms, pulled her even closer, lost herself in their kiss.
At last, they broke apart. “Just to be clear. You really don’t mind about the dates?” El asked anxiously. “Because I meant it; I want to do more–”
“Fine. Have it your way.” Liesel glared at El and pushed her away. “For starters, I hate roses. Go with tulips, or orchids if you must. I love massages. You’re good at those. As for your “date idea list”… No amusement parks, no clubbing and absolutely no swimming. We can go dancing some place fancy, if you want. And I prefer the traditional German cuisine, but since that’s not always available, pancakes will do.” She paused. “Now, are you happy?”
“Thrilled,” El replied with a grin. “I asked Alfie about your dress and shoe size. We can go tomorrow, if you want.”
“Oh?” Liesel asked, surprised. She wondered if they got the color right. Still, she appreciated the effort. “We might do that, then.”
“Okay.” El smiled again. Then she gently touched her face. “Okay. … I love you,” she repeated.
“Yeah, great. I’m not saying it again,” Liesel snapped.
Then she melted into El’s kiss again, and something in her softened.
They were going to change the world, she knew it. But it was more than that.
She smiled.
She was, in fact, happy.
* * *
Hey mom,
Thanks for your help! Liesel and I are fine now. We’re coming over to see you in September, like we talked about. BTW, do you know some place that serves Schnitzel with potato salad?
The daycare idea is brilliant! I can’t believe Liesel didn’t tell me about it. We already have enough people for the first one and might need to make a list for a second. With the payoff from Liesel’s evil stepmom and everyone chipping in, we should have enough mana in about six months. Alfie talked his father into London giving us some of their old warding artifices. Liu’s not-boyfriend from the Scholomance promised to fix them up. I think he still hopes she and Yuyan reconsider his offer of a throuple.
They located two more you-know-whats in Zimbabwe. Orion and I are going there next week. We’re being careful, don’t worry.
Deepthi and Sitabai say hi.
Love,
El