“Certainly. It’s been a while since I’ve done this.” With a nod and a smile, Embric stepped to the side as Ermir moved away, then took his place at the churn. He got to work, initially hesitant motions smoothing out as muscle memory returned. “I see you’ve managed to escape the tavern. Picked a good day for it, at least.” The days were growing cooler as Autumna drew on, but it was better than the last time they had met. Granted, it didn’t take much to outdo a downpour. “How’s the tavern? The kids?”

“Together,” Aine confirmed, as Embric masked their true discussion with idle conversation about nothing.

Business first, he’d decided in the heartbeat between standing and sitting. Then, if Ermir ran away or got angry or shut down, they would have at least discussed possible next steps.

“Adeline found me the other day.” Embric didn’t look up from churning the butter, but that didn’t mean that Aine hadn’t tilted her head slightly to surreptitiously catch Ermir’s reaction at the name. His friend seemed back to his usual self today, but knowing now what he did, he wasn’t sure how much of that was a facade and how much was genuine. Then again, they were in Elderkeep: any semblance of well-being was more fiction than fact. “She wanted to speak with me about the dog, Echo, I’d given her at Tribute.” She had hunted him across Elderkeep to do so, which struck him now as oddly persistent given the relatively innocuous topics of conversation. Everything about that interaction was, at a minimum, deeply unsettling.

The words turned flat. “To express her gratitude and reassure me that his training is going along nicely and that he will be ‘useful in some way’.” If his fingers tightened around the wooden stick and he started pressing down with more force, well, that was mere coincidence. “And then she invited me to the estate to visit him,” He added, as if he hadn’t skipped over a significant amount of the exchange between himself and the queen. “On the condition that I send for her if I do.” Here, he paused. “It would be borderline reckless to go, but it would also be a chance to get in touch with Luka.” And who was he kidding: he wanted to see Echo.

Don’t.

A single word, as solid as bedrock, entered his mind almost before he had finished speaking. Embric paused briefly but didn’t turn to look at Ermir. The tavern keeper had offered his response as if it was the only possible recourse, and indeed, up until now, it always had been: avoid attention, and above all else, that of the Eldouir.

But Echo.

No, this was why he had sought out his friend. To provide clarity when his own head was clouded by heartache. To warn him off when temptation and helplessness urged him to do something unspeakably foolish. To remind him of the potential consequences of taking the bait: bad news, Hiram and Xanthe kind of bad news.

“If I don’t go, would she suspect something?” Initially considering it irrelevant - and quite frankly, alarming to linger over for too long - Embric hadn’t fully explained the chase that had preceded his encounter with the queen, but he summarized it now. “She was specifically looking for me and tracked me around the city until she caught up to me.” She was never supposed to have remembered him in the first place. Just another Dresmondi, one of an entire city who had presented a gift at Tribute. That she had, that she now knew his name and where he lived and that he had a daughter, made him feel like the noose looped around his neck had suddenly started to tighten. Fingers tightened their hold on the wood in their grasp. Vague threats due to the nature of Elderkeep were one matter; the personal aspect of this danger made it entirely different. “Even then, she was already suspicious about how hard it was to do so, why no one knew much about me.”

He hesitated a moment. “And I… did not control my reaction well when she invited me - I was not expecting to receive such an offer.” Lying was a necessity of their tasks, but they each had their moments when the charade shattered: Ermir at the tavern with Xan, and Embric when confronted with a possibility he had never considered.

You would let me see him?

I would not have offered if I did not mean it.

Thank you. I would - That would be wonderful. You are very generous.

“I want to see Echo. I worry that I may have made that plain and that she will expect me to take her up on her offer.” Had he doomed himself without even realizing it? Embric had more to protect than his own personal safety. How much suspicion would an apparent change of heart and a sudden lack of interest in his dog generate? They couldn’t afford to have the Eldouir peering too closely into their affairs. It would be better, for everyone, if she looked at him like - like she did Ermir, he realized with a nauseating grimness - than if she looked at him like a potential threat.

There were many moments in Elderkeep where Embric wished that they could have voiced their discussions themselves rather than through their dyrs. This was one of them. Anger was easier - and far more satisfying - to soothe when it could be shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Yes, the fucking dog, Ermir.” He snapped back, steely. “I took the one good thing that has happened in this nightmare of a city for Kasni and gave him away. He was the closest she will ever have to a dyr.” Regardless of the necessity of the decision and the support Xan had provided, he had yet to forgive himself for making it. Between Savi and Rex, they had almost always had at least one canine around prior to Elderkeep. Named for such reminders of the past, Echo had provided companionship and happiness and truly turned their home into a little refuge from an otherwise horrifying existence. “We both loved him dearly, so forgive me if I’m still torn up over the fucking dog.”

But that wasn’t the point.

Ermir wasn’t listening to what he was saying. If he had, there would have been no reason for the fury that had the wind whipping around them like he was a child throwing a tantrum. Embric took a breath, ostensibly because the constant motion of churning butter was tiring but more because he needed to keep control of his own ire that had woken up to meet his friend’s head on. “I did not say I had decided to go, Ermir, so you can stop acting as if I have.” Unlike someone, Embric was consulting a friend before he made a rash decision. “I was asking after the potential consequences if I didn’t.” That ought to have clued him in on which direction Embric was leaning: why would he ask about the potential results of a course of action he wasn’t considering?

He was unimpressed by the display of elemental power. At this rate, they might as well have their shouting match out loud for all the attention Ermir seemed determined to draw to them. “Get a hold of yourself before you give us away. As far as everyone else is concerned, we were having a pleasant conversation. I will remind you, since you appear to have forgotten, that we both have far more than personal safety at stake here.” And that was the crux of his problem, but Ermir seemed unable to see it. Embric would have died before giving up the secrets he held closest to his heart, but with their numbers effectively reduced to two, they could not afford the loss of either of them. “She remembered me from Tribute. She went looking for and found me, despite my attempts to go unnoticed. She made the offer, which I admit that I did not react to well, and I don’t know if she expects me to waltz up to their estate tomorrow. If she does and I don’t go, she may be suspicious about the change of heart and start wondering what caused it.

“She cannot be allowed to suspect that you and I are anything more than the average Dresmondi - you know this. I am trying to find the option that will lead to her asking the fewest questions, because she was already suspicious when she met me. She knows where I live, and she left with a promise that she would see me again. Since we are trapped here, I am trying to be prepared for that possibility, especially if it’s not on my terms.” In something of an attempt to quell Ermir’s anger, he had fallen into simultaneously reiterating his point and attempting to explain himself better, but it could have been negated by the forceful tension behind his own words. Embric was keenly aware that there was nowhere to run. If she sought him out again, it would only be a matter of time before their paths crossed, and if that happened, he had to keep her interest in him superficial at most. A steep cost that he did not want to pay, but better than the alternative.

“You seem to know her better than I do.” A low blow, perhaps, but Embric was feeling vicious. The fucking dog, Ermir had said.

“He’s in pain, and he’s lashing out because it’s safer to attack you than anyone else,” Aine pointed out to him. “Did you not do the same immediately after Tribute? You know he didn’t intend to hurt you or belittle Echo.”

Another deep breath as Embric paused and collected himself. Then he delivered his decision, eyes finding Ermir’s if he could do so without turning awkwardly where he sat. “So if you think she will have forgotten me in light of all that, if you think that she will not come around asking the wrong questions, then you have made your point. I see no reason to remind her of my existence.”