Page 62 of The Sundered Realms

“Is there a type you like better?“ she asked.

Vhannor pursed his lips. “Yes. I like the buns a bit better than the dumplings. But in principle this is still very similar to my favorite snack.”

Liris perked up. “Oh? In what way?”

He pointed Liris at the appropriate ball, and they each picked one to take a bite of. “Dough filled with stuff, basically. Pork buns aren’t my very favorite manifestation, but they’re up there.”

Liris blinked. “How different can ways to fill dough with stuff be?”

Vhannor grinned. “You’d be surprised.”

Maybe it hadn’t been a test after all. Maybe Vhannor had taken her this way because he wanted to introduce her to his favorite snack.

Maybe he had a point about seeing patterns where none existed.

Abruptly Vhannor said, “It’ll wear off, you know.” He waved a hand at what remained of their dumpling experiment. “You won’t always be this excited about every new thing, once new things become normal. Wait—hold that one over a spoon when you bite into it.”

Liris did and almost dropped the spoon when liquid spurted out the side after her first bite. “Soup? How did they get soup in a dumpling?!”

Vhannor covered his face in his hands and shook helplessly with laughter.

Liris’ whole being warmed, and not just from the soup.

“I don’t think it will, though,” she said, maneuvering her dumpling more stably into the spoon so it could collect the escaping soup. “As much as I know, there’s always more to learn. It’s not the studying I grew to hate, it was the... lack of change? Or the lack of choice. Now, if I ever find myself uninterested in what’s around me, I can just... go find somewhere new to work and learn. I never have to stay again if I don’t want to.”

Vhannor watched her intently, the gold growing in his gaze, a thing it only did when he was having feelings he wasn’t prepared to share explicitly.

Oh. “Once Special Operations is set up to deal with Thyrasel, I mean,” Liris said.

“Of course,” he said easily, which told Liris that hadn’t been what he was worried about. Hmm.

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to tell me?”

Vhannor opened his mouth, thought better of it, and tried again. “No. I’m sorry.”

Well, choosing not to lie to her was something. Since he was apparently done opening up and had calmed down, Liris changed the subject. “What now, then? Do we try to talk to Hyorem again?”

“Not yet,” he said slowly. “I can’t tell if Hyorem knows more than he’s letting on, but I don’t think he’s lying. Your read?”

Liris was a little surprised he was asking her, given how that had gone—but then again, his performance hadn’t been notably better than hers. “I think he may have more pieces of the puzzle that he hasn’t put together yet, because he’s not willing to consider the implications of what he does know.”

Vhannor nodded. “He’ll resist giving us those pieces then, because some part of him realizes that I will put them together and he won’t like the answers.”

“We won’t be able to talk to his people without his permission or awareness.”

“No. But we can investigate the nearest message anchor.”

“The what? Oh—a communication hub, you mean?”

Vhannor stood, wincing slightly. Liris frowned, following him up and immediately understood why as she bit back a groan, falling back into her seat.

“Okay,” she said grudgingly, “maybe I should have saved some dumplings for a future visit.”

Vhannor offered her one of his hands as he flashed a grin she was definitely not staring at, transfixed by his delight in her as he pulled her to her feet.

So. He did still want to be with her then.

Liris’ heart beat faster at the smirk on his face.

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