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I beamed at her. “That’s amazing! I’m so proud of you.”
“It is. I thought about adding some extra botanical classes to my workload. And maybe runes. To increase my skill set.”
“I could help you with those,” I offered. “Not the botanical classes—I never had much of a green thumb, to my mother’s regret.”
“That would be great!” she said, her eyes shining. “Aunt Diyha can be like that sometimes—have you heard anything from your brothers and father yet?”
My gaze turned to the ground. I shook my head. “No, nothing.”
“I’m sorry, Thimsal.”
I forced a smile. “Not since the last letter almost two months ago. And messages from the border are slow. Slower than usual.”
I tried to sound optimistic, but my voice wavered.
“They’ll be fine.”
I nodded. “Of course, they will.”
“We are their citizens. Not their enemies.” Souhir’s fierce words brought back memories of my brothers marching off. “But then again, maybe they are just worried that some of their secrets might leak out to other nations.”
“What secrets?”
“I’m not sure. But I know things are going on that the Lunja don’t want anyone to know about.”
My eyes narrowed. “Like what?”
“I don’t know. That’s why it’s a secret.”
“But if you don’t know, then how do you know it’s a secret? Don’t say things like that.”
“I’m just saying what I’ve heard. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“It better be nothing,” I said darkly. “Or else.”
The moment I found out who introduced these ideas to her, I would make sure they would regret it. There was a difference between gossip and planting dangerous ideas into people’s heads.
“I’m sorry.” Souhir looked contrite. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Don’t look at me like that. You know they have something to do with this.”
Lowering my voice, I said, “You shouldn’t say such things in public. Not now.”
“It’s the truth.”
Maybe so. But you never knew who was listening. Especially not now, when tensions were high and everyone was on edge.
“I know,” I conceded. “But we shouldn’t talk about it here.”
Souhir nodded. “You’re right.”
“What have you been up to lately?” I asked, changing the topic to improve my mood. “It couldn’t have only been work, could it?”
“I met someone,” she said shyly, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. “Tell me.”
“I’m not sure if he feels the same way.”
“Of course, he likes you, dear. You’re charming and beautiful, and he must be blind and stupid if he doesn’t like you! How did you meet?”
