"Why did you do it?"

Her eyes darted around the bar, but she couldn't stop herself from asking the question. The Tezyllian government had no tolerance for crime. If she'd been caught, they'd have her head. If he'd been caught aiding her, the same fate awaited him.

"Why did you help me?"

Nyron shook his sandy-blonde hair out of his eyes as he grabbed another glass to wash up. "You seemed to need help." He shrugged.

Liliya studied him for a few moments. "But you could've gotten into a lot of trouble."

The corners of his lips pulled away into a bright smile, showing two rows of perfect teeth. "Do you think I should've let them arrest you?"

"No! I mean..." She cleared her throat. "No. Thanks for the help," she muttered. Unsure where to look, she pushed herself up from the barstool.

"Leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, I should be getting home. Hand me my coat?" she said, gesturing behind the bar.

"You know, you should at least finish that drink."

Looking up, Liliya narrowed her eyes. "You want me to stay? Why?"

With one hand, Nyron gestured around the pub. "Have you looked around at all? The only company I have is two passed out drunks. I'm bored to death in here. It doesn't get busier until later at night. Besides..." He cocked his head to the side. "I'm itching to hear the story about why you were chased by the cops."

It was a good thing the pub was poorly lit, because Liliya couldn't stop the heat from rising to her cheeks. She pushed the stool forward against the bar and shook her head. "I should really go..." Her mother was probably waiting for her at home.

"Come on," said Nyron. "I've already proven to you that I'm not going to turn you in, so what's the harm in telling me? Besides, I saved you. Staying for a bit is the least you can do, right?" With a lopsided smile, he pushed her half-finished drink closer.

Liliya sighed, but sat back down anyway. "Fine. But you'll have to make me another drink. Something more... tolerable."

Nyron grinned. "Not into whiskey are you? No worries, I'll make you something sweeter." Turning to grab a couple of brightly coloured bottles from the shelves, he added, "In the meantime, tell me your story."

Swirling the whiskey inside her glass, Liliya frowned. "I don't even know where to begin..."

"Well," said Nyron, filling a glass with ice cubes. "What were you doing that got the cops chasing after you?"

Liliya brought the whiskey glass to her mouth before answering. "I was trying to get some Ginkgo leaves."

The clinking of glass against glass suddenly died down and silence filled the bar. She risked a glance upwards. Nyron's bottle-filled hands hovered in the air as if frozen.

"That's the herb they recently banned."

"They only banned the harvest of it, not the use," Liliya fired back.

"Which comes down to exactly the same thing!"

Liliya flinched from the growl in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I..." Nyron sighed, setting down the bottles. "What did you need that herb for?"

"Everything," she muttered. "The Ginkgo leaf is one of the main ingredients of the calming potion, which I need to do my job. My supplier can't make the potion without ingredients. Which means I can't do my job properly. I'm losing clients already."

To stop the tears from filling her eyes, Liliya took a gulp of the whiskey. It burned its way down her throat, her face scrunching up. As soon as she set the glass down, Nyron took it away and went back to creating her new drink, which seemed to be turning eerily blue.

"What job do you do?"

"I'm a healer," she said. "Of the mental health kind. I specialize in traumas. You're not actually going to make me drink that, are you?" she added, turning her nose up at the bright blue liquid.

Nyron grinned. "You don't drink very often, do you?"

"No, and I wasn't planning on starting with that."

Finishing off with a slice of lime and a little paper umbrella, he set the glass down in front of her. "You'll like this. Trust me. Besides, it's on the house."

"Trust you? I barely know you."

"This is what I do, Liliya. Just like you fix people's traumas, I fix people's drinks. Now try it."

"That's not how... Oh, never mind."

With a suspicious glare, Liliya picked up the drink, held it up against the light for a second and then took the smallest sip. A sweet coldness doused the flames the whiskey had set. It tasted like pineapple, with a hint of coconut. She couldn't stop an appreciative hum from escaping her lips.

"Not bad, huh?"

"It's not terrible," Liliya muttered.

Nyron laughed. "That's good enough for me."

She sipped contentedly for a few moments, as he washed up her whiskey glass.

"I hate what they're doing," said Nyron suddenly.

"What who's doing?"

"The government." The whiskey glass Liliya hadn't finished slammed against the sink. "The anti-magic laws. It's ridiculous. People should be free to use whatever magic they want. It's not up to the government to decide."

Liliya hesitated, absentmindedly taking out her hairband and re-braiding her long hair. "They've been mostly magic-restricting before. They didn't mind people using magic, just not too much. But now... This latest law is costing people jobs. It's ruining healthcare. It's taking away people's bare necessities. They've gone too far," she sighed, shaking her head.

"They've always gone too far. They're taking away free will with all these laws. It's wrong. For years they've been ruining lives with that bullshit."

The glass slipped out of his hands and shattered on the floor. He groaned loudly and threw the dish towel down as well, as if to make a point. Then he grabbed a broom and set to work cleaning up the pieces.

"Sounds like you've got a story there, too," said Liliya softly, hoping her remark wouldn't make him even angrier.

Nyron shook his head, refusing to look at her. "Let's save that one for another time."

She sipped her drink, watching him as he dropped the shards into the bin. He rubbed his face a few times. When he turned back to her, the angry expression had disappeared like melted snow, though he looked more tired now. There were dark shadows under his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"So what are you going to do now?"

She bit her lower lip. It was the question she'd been trying so hard to push down. The question she had no answer to. "I'm going to sit here and enjoy my drink," she grumbled. "But I'll be enjoying it a whole lot less if you keep talking."

When he lifted an eyebrow at her, she rolled her eyes. "You're not a very good bartender if you make people think about the shit they come here trying to forget."

"You didn't come here trying to forget!" Nyron chuckled. "You came here trying to get away with breaking the law. And you almost brought a poor, innocent bartender in trouble."

Liliya scoffed. "Innocent, my ass!"

A sound at the back of the bar distracted her from Nyron's elated laugh. The door.

She got up from her seat, throwing back the last few gulps of her strange blue drink. "I'd better go. Hand me my coat?"

"Don't you dare try and pay me for those drinks," he said, bending down behind the bar. He stuck out the blue coat for her, but didn't let go when she took it. "Come back sometime?"

A blush crept to her cheeks. "I don't know. Bars aren't really my thing."

"Unless you're trying to get away from someone," he grinned.

"I don't really expect that to happen again anytime soon."

"You never know," said Nyron. "Nothing is certain."

With a quick nod, Liliya took her coat, swung it over her shoulders and left the cozy little pub, nodding at the bald, middle-aged man who'd just entered. A sigh escaped her lips when she breathed in the cool evening air.