As Juna sat beside Lothren, he had his firearm up, aimed at a young rattlesnake. Even as she spoke to him, he kept it aimed. Then he pulled the trigger, and of course there was nothing in it. The rattlesnake climbed back down into some hole, and Juna thought of the whole thing as normal. There would have been no more point of killing the rattlesnake than killing the cows, and that had surely been a mistake. All that was necessary was for Lothren, it seemed to Juna, was the satisfaction of knowing he would have killed him.

Then Juna was acknowledge in the corner of his eye, and he spoke of her. He was clearly upset about his brother, which of course was fair. “This will end soon,” he had said. Of course, Juna had her doubts that anything about this would be easy. Yet he carefully listened to each of Lothren’s words.

“The King will not remain ours to keep,” Lothren had said. “When that moment comes, remember that a blade on his throat will stay a blade on someone else’s.”

As Lothren spoke, Juna kept her usual expression her. Her face bore her usual slight smile and sly expression, and not a single change appeared in her, making her completely unreadable. Then Juna unexpectedly playfully put her right hand through Lothren’s hair and then withdrew her hand before he would have been able to react.

“My, my, today’s not a good day, is it?” Juna said. “Even if there’s nothing to be cheerful about, I do it anyway. Now, I’m not saying for you act like me, as that is more the stuff of nightmares, but, as they say, keep your chin up.”

Then Juna got off of her feet, and stood up.

“I understand, though, Lothren,” Juna said. “You’re brother’s in a rough spot, so here’s what I’ll do. I promise you that Ularien will be delivered back to you, safe and all.”

However, then Juna’s tone of voice changed, to gravely serious, unlike her normal self, when said, “And remember, Lothren, I’m counting on you to do the right thing.”

“Well, I better get going,” Juna spoke again, her tone back to her usual, unserious tone. “Some of the others seem to be getting ready, and I better not disappoint.”

And then Juna was gone nearly as soon as she had come. It was very much to her nature to come and go once she felt she had done what she needed to, and then she would quickly leave.