“[color=gray]You [i]what[/i]?[/color]”

Besca became briefly, shamefully aware that the door to her office was open. A few bridge personnel craned their heads to peak inside, confused, concerned, curious. She gave them an apologetic look, then quickly shut the door. It would be soundproof now, but she still tried to wrangle her temper in, just in case. 

“I offered them the alliance,” Toussaint said. “Well, I was approved to offer it to them, then I did it. Effective immediately, the CSC would cease any and all cooperation with RISC, and Casoban would begin nullifying the past decade or so worth of trade agreements between us and Runa. We would, effectively if not officially, become a vassal state to Eusero.”

“[color=gray]Why.[/color]” 

“Because they didn’t expect it. Because the Casobani people would likely riot under whatever new agreements they’d have needed to endure. Mostly, though, because I knew Eusero wouldn’t accept.”

It seemed restraining herself had been the right call after all. Normally she’d have known better than to underestimate Jaime. As aggravating and sycophantic as he could sometimes be, it was easy to forget that he was her peer for a reason. 

He seemed to take her silence for permission to expound. “You should have seen the treatise, Besca, it would have made you ill. We’d have ceded almost everything, forsaken every connection outside of Eusero’s umbrella. They’d have been the exclusive recipient of all our resources, at a rate that would have made Selen Dane blush. And we only asked for one thing.”

“[color=gray]Cantimine.[/color]” she muttered.

“Cantimine,” he agreed. “They denied the request ten minutes after I sent it. I imagine that wasn’t a second longer than it took to reach Dane’s desk. They aren’t even reporting on it. Imagine how humiliating it would be for Casoban, and Runa, to air a deal that desperate. But not a peep.”

Besca sat back in her desk. None of this made sense; Cantimine belonged to Eusero, but according to Toussaint, whatever signal had breached the Ange’s systems originated [i]from[/i] Cantimine. Led them right to it—whatever [i]it[/i] was. If Eusero was hiding something in the town, why in the world would they leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading right to their doorstep, then pretend like nothing had happened? Why fight so hard to protect a secret [i]they’d[/i] leaked?

“Regardless,” Toussaint said, pulling her back. “Dane surely suspects we know something, or at least that there’s something to know. This won’t end with the duel tomorrow, I’m sure, regardless of how it goes.”

“[color=gray]And how is it going to go?[/color]”

He sighed, she heard his chair creak. “They rejected a nation to keep ahold of Cantimine. I expect they intend to win. Romeo or Faltiste would be my guess.”

“[color=gray]They’d look desperate sending their best pilots to a dispute like this.[/color]”

“True enough. Anyone in their top ten would give them a decent shot. Camille is talented, but, well, we’ve avoided conflicts with Eusero for a reason. Besca.”

“[color=gray]Hm?[/color]”

“You understand that neither of us can afford to let this alone.”

Besca scoffed. “[color=gray]I think the fact that you’ve got half our pilots with you states pretty clearly that we’re not abandoning you.[/color]”

“That’s not what I meant,” Toussaint said. “If we fail tomorrow, you need to take up the torch. Not for Casoban’s sake, for Runa’s. The signal that got through here…something is wrong. I have a feeling they’re going to push, even if we win. If they posture, send Romeo, or, I don’t know, whatever they do—do not back down.”

It was a tall order. Toussaint was, essentially, asking her to risk [i]Dragon[/i]—risk [i]Dahlia[/i]—over this town. Over something that they didn’t even know [i]was[/i] anything. 

Over something that had scared Quinn. 

Quinn. Quinn was calling her. Right now. Besca scrambled out of her seat, fumbling with her phone to make sure she was seeing right. 

“Besca?” Toussaint asked. “Is everything alright?”

“[color=gray]Peachy,[/color]” she said. “[color=gray]I gotta go, Jaime. Good luck tomorrow, I’ll keep what you said in mind, uh, I’ll—yeah, you got it. Gotta go. Bye.[/color]”

“But—”

She hung up, steadied herself with a few breaths, then swiped ‘Accept’ on her phone. “[color=gray]Hey hun,[/color]” she said, as casually as she could. “[color=gray]How’s it going down there? Everything alright?[/color]”

And as nice as it was to hear the girl’s voice again, it became quickly clear that, as was so often the case with Quinnlash, no, everything was not alright.