Veya

"Can I drown myself in the bay?" I looked at Serena. "Is that allowed?"

We were just outside of Ceravis. Serena had spent the past half hour talking about rules and expectations.

The rules were mainly directed at Eres and the other council members, but I still had to sit through the whole thing.

And I was getting annoyed.

She rolled her eyes. "If you were paying attention, I said try not to get yourself killed."

"I can drown without dying. I've done it before." I shrugged.

"I'd rather not repeat that." Eres gave me a look.

"Veya, I would really appreciate your cooperation right now." Serena took on a softer tone.

"You picked the wrong council member for that." I leaned back to lay on the ground. "I'm hungry."

Eres handed me some kind of meat jerky. I smiled at him and bit into it.

Serena sighed. "Why are you like this?"

"I didn't listen to Caspian." I sat up. "And my default is like this."

Synoya smiled at me. "Aren't you just a ray of sunshine?" She lifted a finger and the sun was suddenly in my eyes.

Aspen rolled his eyes and waved his hand. My shady spot was shady again.

"I don't know how I feel about all of this." Eres squinted. He gave Aspen a pointed look. "You especially."

Aspen narrowed his eyes. "So you're cool with your girlfriend bringing back the dead, but you draw the line at me stealing your shade?"

"I've never brought back the dead," I said.

"But you could," Synoya smiled. Dear founders, that woman was always smiling. I had nothing against her, I just wondered how she could be so happy all the time. "And he'd be cool with that."

"Would you be cool with that?" I looked at Eres.

"I don't know why I would care. It doesn't affect me." He shrugged. "The fucking shade does."

"Hi, I'm Eres Lykain and I draw the line at arbitrary places," Naomi mumbled.

"A woman of so few words and ninety percent of them are mocking me." Eres sighed. "What have I ever done to you?" He said dramatically.

She shrugged. "Eh."

"And this is why you're a Tame, not a Map." Aspen sighed. "What were we talking about before Veya derailed the conversation?"

"I derailed nothing. I just asked a simple question." I looked at Serena. "And I don't think I got an answer."

"No, you cannot drown yourself in Manthe Bay or other large body of water." She said flatly.

"Can I light myself on fire then?" I leaned forward.

"I swear to Ressya." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, Veya. You can't."

"These are valid questions." I crossed my arms. "How am I supposed to know how to act if you don't tell me exactly what I can and can't do?"

"Any other questions?" She looked away from me.

I raised my hand. I wasn't even sure why, it just felt right.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Questions that do not involve putting yourself in a life-threatening situation?"

I kept my hand up.

She took a deep breath and looked at me. "Fine."

"Can I drown Synoya in the bay?" I smiled.

"You can try." Aspen scoffed.

"Aw," She looked at him. "Would you defend me?"

"No," He laughed. "I just think she'd put your annoying ass down before she made it to the bay."

She frowned. "Why'd I marry you again?"

"Money?" Naomi offered.

"I asked you to. Why you are still married to me? I have no idea." He absently waved his hand and shaded himself as the sun moved.

I looked at the two of them. "You two are literally grumpy and sunshine."

Synoya was sitting in the middle of a shaded area, but she sat in a small square of sunlight. Aspen was about a foot away from her, in a patch of shade. His hand was on top of hers in the sunlight.

Even their appearances matched the stereotype. Synoya had blonde hair, blue eyes, and tanned skin. She was half a foot shorter than Aspen, who had black hair, brown eyes, and was as white as a ghost. Probably because he always sat in the shade.

Synoya tilted her head up and closed her eyes. "You read a lot of romance?"

"No," I almost laughed. "My younger sister does. And she does not shut up about it."

"The sister that is meeting us in Ceravis?" Aspen frowned. "She's going to have a field day."

Synoya laughed. "Probably the three biggest tropes? Other than love triangle."

"Three?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Arranged marriage, grumpy sunshine, enemies to lovers," Serena said.

"Enemies?" I looked at Eres. "That seems a bit extreme."

"Fine, but you mess up once and you're dead." Eres gave me a pointed look. "I don't think it was love at first sight, Vey."

"You have a good memory." I looked down.

"I didn't realize arranged marriage was big." I tried to change the subject.

"You'd be surprised how many teenage girls fantasize about being forced to marry a man they've never met." Serena shook her head.

"Yeah but he's usually hot," Synoya looked at her. "I think it's reasonable."

"Yes, tell the woman in an arranged marriage that it's reasonable." Aspen shook his head and laughed.

"Whatever." Synoya rolled her eyes. "Teran was hot when you two got married. And I'm sure you having three kids with the man isn't related to his attractiveness at all."

"Was?" Serena looked at her. "Still is, thank you very much."

Aspen looked at Synoya. She shrugged. "I was fourteen and strongly disliked you. You can't hold that against me now."

"As entertaining as this is, shouldn't we be going to Ceravis?" Eres said.

Serena looked at her watch. "If we want to get there before sunset."

...
Yeah, that's a SiX reference in there.

<3