☀️ Arselia and Akonia

— Well, he did manage to finish the book, just much slower than me, — the former inquisitor laughed, — and he was a good man, actually. Very reliable and always knew how to support you in difficult times. Although, it was a bit amusing to see him, someone who bravely rushes into battle, reading about the adventures of Thios with such apprehension.

— Well... couldn’t you show some initiative? Surely, men and women who are either complaining about the lack of relationships or drowning their sorrows in alcohol visit here quite often. If so, why not suggest to Ogme, on some day off, to organize a kind of "lonely hearts evening" here, and put up an advertisement in the newspaper or somewhere else? It would benefit his business, and those who want to find a partner. Although, you should keep in mind the potential pool of candidates, just in case. And he might not even agree to it.

— That’s true. However, not to convince you, but purely on the topic of vulnerability, have you ever thought about how fragile a person is? I find it amusing, because no matter how brave we are, no matter how much we grow in glory and authority with each other... we are still limited to a relatively small range of conditions suitable for our existence. Just a little hotter – and we suffer from the heat, or even burn. Just a little colder – and no clothing will save us from freezing. If we take away the ground beneath our feet and replace it with an ocean without islands, how long will we last, a couple of days at best? And if we take away the sources of food or air? We are forced to trust our lives to the conditions around us, without which our existence would be short-lived. There are practically no exceptions; you can only slightly expand the range of your comfort zone.

— The same goes for the people around us; in general, to some extent, trusting them is not a weakness, but a vital necessity. No matter how much someone boasts about their independence, it doesn’t fully exist; we all owe something to someone... Otherwise, at the very least, we would be savages who don’t know the language and eat grass, and even that is not true, because someone gave birth to us at one time, as small, vulnerable babies.

— Her Highness, the Third Princess, it’s quite unusual to encounter her first mention in the story in this way, — Erefir said quietly, yielding to Kalina the first meaningful comment regarding the quality of the work.