Kesti's back from one of her long work trips. Her job as Champion takes her to nearby islands often, and sometimes she stays in Oxana for weeks at a time, but this trip took her all the way out to A'olona. Her little sister Kiana was bursting with excitement to see her, and so the two of them spent a few hours in her room, Kiana listening breathlessly to Kesti's tales of far-away places. Finally, their mom showed up to drag Kiana back to their estate, ignoring her demands for a sleepover. Once things get quiet again, I give a gentle knock on Kesti's door to see what happens. To my relief, I hear her call, "Come in!"

I go inside. She doesn't look surprised to see it's me. I don't know if she can tell using magic somehow or if she just recognizes the sound of my knock.

"Need something, Gideon?" Kesti asks me.

"That's what I came here to ask you."

"That's very kind of you, Gideon. But I think I'm alright for now. I just need rest."

"Of course." I nod and place my hand on the door handle. "We're all happy to have you home. I know I am, and I'm sure the Governor is too."

"...Yeah." Kesti mumbles.

I freeze. I was about to leave, and I could still leave, but... My gut tells me I shouldn't. Something about her tone felt... wrong. Her head is bent downward, and her face is unusually unreadable.

"What do you mean, Kesti?"

"It's nothing," she says. Too quickly, too harshly.

"It's not nothing."

"I just..." Kesti lifts her chin to return my gaze. "Both of us have worked with Governor Reiner for... almost two years, at this point, correct? But you probably spend more time with Reiner than I do."

"...It's been about two years, yeah." I don't really want to examine that second part too closely. Thinking about it too hard makes my heart beat faster than I would like. I need to be professional.

"Reiner is always very friendly and polite. But... have you ever wondered if he's hiding something?"

Yes. All the time. But I don't think she cares for the same reason I do. I scramble for a response.

"Why do you ask?"

"He's always out late at night, and he never says why. It's nothing to do with his position as Governor. He does all his official business in his office, here in the Governor's Mansion. He wasn't here to greet me when I returned from my trip. He wasn't here to say goodbye when I left. Haven't you noticed?"

Of course I noticed. It's my job to protect Reiner, and I'm one of the few people allowed to enter his private quarters, so I'm always the first to know when he's not at home. Unless he's in his bedroom, which is off-limits, even to me. (For now.)

Gideon, stop fantasizing about your boss letting you into his bedroom. Focus. Kesti is your boss too, and she is being emotionally vulnerable right now.

"Yes, I have noticed," I say, trying to make my voice sound natural and unconcerned. "But the Governor deserves to have privacy, and he's allowed to do things outside his position as Governor."

Kesti sighs and shakes her head. "I know that, but... Something he said the other day made me worry."

"What'd he say?"

"So..." Kesti begins with a frown, "He gave himself a papercut, and I saw him heal it with a spell. So I said, 'Reiner, I didn't know you studied restorative magic. Where'd you learn it?' Which I thought was a perfectly reasonable question. And he snapped at me! He said, 'Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to,' in a really nasty tone of voice. He apologized right afterwards and said he just hadn't slept well the previous night. I believed it, because he hadn't come home until nearly dawn. But it was odd."

"...That is odd." I have to agree. Kesti's expression brightens.

"Isn't it? Ever since then, I feel like he's been avoiding me. But I... I don't understand why."

I let out a breath through my teeth, trying to think. I've never heard about anything like this from Kesti before, and Reiner's never treated me that coldly. Why would he treat her differently than he treats me? (Besides the reason I want to be true, and I know isn't true, but I still can't help but imagine it.) I can't read Reiner's mind (as much as I'd like to) so I have to come up with some way to calm Kesti's nerves.

"Listen, Kesti..." I say after a long pause, "I wish I understood Reiner better. But I think... there's always going to be a part of him that he's unwilling to share with us. Still, he's been nothing but kind to me, so I have to believe that... He has a reason for the way he acts. Even if he's not comfortable telling me. Maybe someday he will be, or maybe he won't. We just have to trust him."

"Okay." She doesn't sound convinced.

"Thank you for confiding this in me, Kesti. If I do find anything out, I'll let you know."

"Okay!" That's as good as I'm getting, I think. I grip the door handle with renewed determination.

"If there's nothing else...?"

"No, nothing else. Have a good night, Gideon."

"Night, Kesti." I close the door, but the conversation doesn't feel over. A tension hangs in the air. I take a couple steps, and now I'm in front of Reiner's quarters. My fist hovers over the door, just for a moment, and then I turn to quickly walk in the other direction. I don't think I want to know the truth.