‘We haven’t set the date yet, or arranged the ceremony – or maybe ceremonies. We may have to have more than one for reasons involving odd laws in different jurisdictions… but I digress. Nervous… I suppose. Maybe I’d say more… anxious. I’d feel better with it more planned. Then I’ll be excited.’ She giggles with a flash of her bright smile.

‘My favourite “every day” food…? Umm, who’s cooking it?’ A giggle comes as she ponders further. ‘I mean, I’m not allowed unsupervised even in my own kitchen, lest I burn it down. So, there are a lot of things I have pretty often just because they’re all that I can make – but that doesn’t mean I’m that fond of them. So, “every day”, but maybe not “favourite”.’

She sighs, pacing a little as she considers further. ‘I suppose… pasties would be something that’s an every-day kind of food and that I like, so I reckon I’ll go with that. I can get those a lot of different places, even, though there is this one street vendor in the Reach who makes really good ones – Britta. She’s kinda cute, too.’ She giggles with an impish crinkle of her nose.

‘Comfort food, now… hmm….’ She taps her cheek as she continues pacing. ‘Well… certain people who live with me would get a very salacious answer that technically doesn’t involve food, but….’ She cackles briefly. ‘But in the way that you meant… peach pies, lime tarts, or about anything raspberry. Of course, the limes and raspberries are high on my favourite fruits list, anyway, but the peach pie… well. Peaches are usually a bit too sweet for me, but there’s memories there… Darra trying to find things I’d eat, worried that I didn’t eat enough… she was such a sweetheart about it.’

She chortles, shaking her head a bit, still pacing. ‘A lot of people would tell you it’s cheesecake – but that’s more of a flirting food, to be shared. Or an excuse to have raspberries, chocolate, or both. If I have too much cheesecake, especially depending on just how it’s made… well, the results aren’t pretty.’

The small woman pauses to lean up against a table edge. ‘Now, a particular dish I absolutely hate…? I’m allergic to apples and can’t have milk-sugar, but that’s not a matter of hating…. Hmm. Well, honey-glazed sweetened lemon pastry.’ She makes a “yuck” face just trying to say it and shudders. ‘I don’t like things to taste too sweet… and I really dislike lemon. Something that’s both… ewww!’ She shudders again. ‘Yes, it’s silly, I know… I oranges, and so-called grapefruits (why in the Mists are they called that?) and omnomberries, and I love limes and raspberries and pineapples… but I just really don’t like the taste of lemons.’

The small, showy-haired woman laughs, though it only sort of touches her eyes. ‘Well, I have two lovely sweethearts of formal record, and a heart that’s very hard to tame – though now that I’m with Mirex and Alexandria, I have stopped “looking”. Over time, as I get dumped – again – I’m expect I’ll be down to just those two. My biggest… hmm… guilty temptation, I might say, since I tried hard not to flirt at her… just got engaged, and her fiancee is also at least a former assassin, so… she’s even safer from me now than before.’ She chuckles, shaking her head. ‘So, yes, too many, but trying to settle down.’

‘I miss a lot of people, in various ways. Some are down to an occasional dull ache, and some… I have to try not to think about too much, because it still hurts a lot. I miss Caileen, and Rielle, and, gods help me, Adilah. I miss Darra, and Dela, and Billi, Amari, Amy, Holly, Sines, Sofi, Nys, Myra, Bela, Myra – yes, two different Myras, and, Six help me even more, Artemis. I miss, Luna Larkspur, Luna Lancastir, Gulmont, and Flintlock. Mists! I even miss Tori, and it’s only been four days since I last saw her. Delightful child, for all that she is older and bigger than I am. And, of course, any time I’m not with Mirex or Alex, I miss them.’

‘Well, now. “Traitorous” is such an interesting word. Are we talking something that might be legally treason? Not that I can think of anything there that I’d do that would save someone. I suppose it might depend on where and so whose laws on treason would apply… but even then I can’t think of anything. Plenty of illegal things I’d do, but I just can’t think of anything that’s treason anywhere that … well, that I’d likely do at all, really, but none that would save someone.

‘Now, if we’re talking something that someone might consider to be betraying them… I suppose it’s possible. Not likely, but possible. Mostly only if I don’t realise it’s something they would consider betrayal… though mere embarrassment over living…’