#referenced rook x harding

[randomnonsensedragonage]

Mutual Interests

Lace Harding & Emmrich Volkarin (plus referenced Harding x Rook and Emmrich x Rook) - 2081 words

Summary: Trapped by a rainstorm while camping in Fereldan, Harding and Emmrich end up discussing their mutual favorite topic: Rook.

A/N: This is another story dealing with my kind of AU canon where my Rook is dating both Harding and Emmrich (the first one is "Opening Up").

In writing these, I'm basically assuming that everything that occurred in both romances still happens. That includes Harding and Emmrich's camping trip, and the banter series where Harding gives Emmrich a hard time about being distracted by the relationship.

Given all that, I thought it would be fun if they ended up talking about Rook during their trip. This one's a bit self indulgent, but I had a lot of fun writing it. I really like writing both Harding and Emmrich, and I think their dynamic in the game is great! I did my best to capture that here.

Thanks again to @somevirtualnolife for beta reading this!

Read on Ao3

“Well, this is a bummer,” Harding said with a sigh.

She and Emmrich were sitting in one of their tents, listening to the rain pound against the canvas roof. It had been raining since shortly after breakfast, and showed no sign of letting up.

Up to now, their camping trip had been going fine. They’d arrived in the Fereldan Hinterlands yesterday afternoon. Harding scouted out a good camping spot not far from Lake Luthias—almost the same spot where the Inquisition once made camp all those years ago. There was fresh water running from the lake above, plenty of trees to shield the site from observers, and enough elevation to see anyone coming before they saw them.

They set up camp without too much trouble and enjoyed a nice dinner of the promised sandwiches. Emmrich was a little quiet, and Harding didn’t sleep well that night, but overall, not a bad start.

That morning, the morning of their only full day, Harding had planned a hike up to the lake. She figured this would give Emmrich plenty of opportunity to see lots of different plants and wildlife. But the rain soon put the kibosh on that plan. Starting as nothing more than an overcast sky and a trickle of water, the storm soon became a roil of black clouds, and the rain a downpour. They were forced to douse the fire and retreat inside the closest tent.

Now, Emmrich answered Harding with a grumbling noise of agreement. He looked distinctly uncomfortable—his too long legs pulled up to his chest, his head nearly touching the top of the tent, even sitting down. The rainstorm interrupted his morning shave, so his face was half overnight whiskers, and there was a small cut on his chin. He also hadn’t had a chance to do whatever it was he normally did to his hair, so it was a mess on top of his head.

“We’ll just have to do some quality camping bonding until this lets up,” Harding said. “It’ll be fun!”

She waited for a response from Emmrich, but he continued to sit there unhappily. She frowned.

“There’s no need to sulk,” she said, her tone reminding her too much of her ma. “It’s just some rain.”

Emmrich’s shoulders stiffened.

“I was not sulking,” he said, in a tone that sounded very much like he was. “I’m perfectly capable of handling a setback.”

“Riiight,” Harding said. “Well, what should we do then? We could play a game… just chat…? Those are kind of the only options, now that I think about it.”

Emmrich shrugged, and Harding couldn’t help rolling her eyes. Yep, definitely sulking.

“Or, we could just sit here in silence,” she said, an edge of frustration creeping into her voice. “That’s fine too, I guess.”

Emrich shook his head, coming out of whatever fog he was in.

“Oh, I do apologize, Harding,” he said, with a sigh. “I haven’t been the best company this morning.”

“Aw, it’s okay,” Harding said, disarmed by the apology. “Rain on a camping trip’s no fun.”

“Yes, but… you have worked quite hard preparing this trip,” he said, wringing his hands. “The least I can do is try to be less…”

“Sulky?” Harding said.

“Yes, exactly.” He sighed again, gazing up at the roof. “This shouldn’t be so difficult. It’s only a two-day trip.”

“Ah…” Harding said, realizing what the problem was. “You miss Runa, huh?”

His eyes widened, and he smoothed his messy hair out of his face, frowning.

“Oh dear,” he said. “Is it that obvious?”

“Uh, kind of,” Harding said, with a laugh. “You only get this gloomy when it’s about her.”

“Mopey, you mean?” Emmrich said, with a faint smile.

“Right.”

“I suppose it’s foolish of me,” he said.

“It’s not foolish,” Harding said kindly. “I think that’s normal. It’s not easy being away from someone you care about.”

She frowned then, the previous night coming back to her. Her dreams had kept her up, as they often did these days. But unlike her usual ones, which bothered her with their bizarre imagery or their uncomfortable on-the-noseness, these were strange and vague, hard to remember fully. She just knew Runa had been there, and Harding had a faint impression of lying next to her. Not doing… anything else. Just the sense of her being nearby and within touching distance. And every time she woke up and fell back into dreams, it was the same impression again.

She pulled her legs up to her chest, suddenly forlorn.

Emmrich seemed to notice that something was wrong, because he looked over at her and frowned in concern.

“Are you doing all right, Harding?” he said.

“Oh, yeah,” Harding said. She sat up, did her best to keep her voice cheerful. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

“Hmm,” Emmrich said. “But is this not the first time you’ve been away from Runa as well?”

“I dunno,” Harding said. She tightened her arms around her legs. “It’s not like we’re together all the time. She goes on missions, and hangs out with you, and…”

She trailed off, frowning. Now that she thought about it, the times she and Runa were apart were few and far between. When Runa wasn’t out and about, or with Emmrich, she was usually in Harding’s room. They still couldn’t touch, so most of the time she was just… there. Keeping her company. Sitting and reading with that little smile on her face while Harding wrote letters. Making dumb jokes while Harding gardened. Dozing off in Harding’s chair. She never got enough sleep, no matter how much Harding reminded her.

And before that, there were the months on the road with Varric. Long chats by the fire, hiking side-by-side, wandering off into new cities to explore. Always together.

Harding swallowed hard. Her throat ached, and her eyes stung. She blinked rapidly and shook her head.

“Okay,” she said. “Maybe I do miss her.” She exhaled a sigh. “But you’re right. It’s only a couple days.”

“It may help to discuss your feelings,” Emmrich said. “I’m here to listen, if you’re amenable.”

Harding laughed lightly. “Thanks,” she said. “I’m not great at that. But maybe.”

“Well,” Emmrich said, “what do you miss about her? That may help.”

Harding looked toward the flap of the tent. It was open just enough that she could see the rain drops falling in front of them, running down the tent flap and down to the ground like tiny rivers.

“I miss her smile,” she finally said. “And her laugh. Ugh, and her stupid jokes.” She chuckled to herself. “Who’m I kidding. I like those too.”

She pulled her legs closer to her chest. “It’s weird, you know?” she said. “Up until a few months ago, it was just me and Varric. And before that, it was mostly just me. Scouting around for the Inquisitor on my own, meeting up with our agents every so often. But then, there was Runa.” She shrugged. “And now, I can’t imagine life without her.”

Her face grew warm. She worried she’d said too much. Was it bad to talk so honestly about her feelings for Runa in front of the other person Runa was seeing? But he did ask, so maybe it was fine.

Emmrich didn’t seem to mind. He nodded, and Harding thought his eyes looked misty.

“I know something of what that’s like,” he said. “Off in my… what did you call it? My crypt?”

“Yes,” Harding said, with a grin. “Your crypt.”

He made a noise of irritation.

“I don’t actually live in a crypt, you know.”

“Sure, you say that, but…”

He shook his head, and Harding chuckled again. She adjusted herself into a more comfortable sitting position, tucking her legs underneath her.

“What do you miss about her, Emmrich?” Harding said. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Oh, well.” He laughed nervously, running his hand through his hair. “I’m uncertain where to begin.”

“Come on,” Harding said, wiggling her eyebrows. “I went, now you have to go.”

He gave a nervous laugh, his face red.

“Runa is… unique,” he said at last. “She has no magic, and yet her understanding of spirits and of the Necropolis is of a depth and nuance rarely seen, even amongst my fellow scholars. Yet she has no pretensions, no ego requiring accolades or public adoration, which I find refreshing.”

“Okay…” Harding said. She found it hard to fully follow when Runa or Emmrich started talking about the Necropolis and their work there.

Emmrich went on.

“She has an eagerness to learn and understand that I find admirable,” he said. “She is kind and patient, more so than most would be with her responsibilities. Kindness and patience which she extends to person and spirit alike.” He smiled to himself. “What’s more, I simply enjoy her company. She makes me laugh.”

“Aww, Emmrich,” Harding said. She put a hand to her heart. “That’s so sweet.”

“Indeed?” Emmrich said, embarrassment in his voice. “Well, she’s quite kind to put up with me.”

Harding shook her head.

“Emmrich, she doesn’t ‘put up with’ you. She’s crazy about you.”

“You… think so?” Emmrich said.

“Um, yeah?” Harding said. “She talks about you all the time. She admires you so much. She’s like… I don’t know… a drunk person after she spends time with you.”

“A… drunk person?”

“All flushed, and bright-eyed, and distracted…”

Harding rolled her eyes skyward. Maybe at another point in her life, Runa’s clear infatuation with Emmrich would’ve made her jealous. But to be honest, she was glad her relationship with Runa was different. Whatever Runa and Emmrich had going on, it was a tad too dramatic for Harding’s taste. Not being able to touch her own girlfriend was enough to deal with.

For his part, Emmrich’s expression was confusing. It flashed between happiness, surprise… and worry? Harding frowned, but decided not to question it.

“Thank you for telling me, Harding,” Emmrich said then. “For what it’s worth, she cares a great deal for you as well.”

“Oh?” Harding said, looking up in surprise.

“Why, absolutely!” said Emmrich. “She speaks of you often. ‘Lace said this, Lace said that.’ What’s more, there’s a certain… lightness of spirit about her after she spends time with you. I can see what joy you bring her.”

“O-oh.” Blood rushed to her cheeks again, and she looked down at her feet.

It wasn’t that Harding doubted Runa’s feelings for her. But to hear them said out loud by someone else, someone else Runa was also seeing… it was nice. She couldn’t help smiling.

“It sure would be nice if Runa was better at showing how she felt in person, huh?” Harding said, looking up.

Emmrich sighed. “I know. She is cheerful to a fault. I do wish she were a tad more in touch with her own feelings.”

Someone could stand to do a little self-reflecting, Harding thought, perhaps uncharitably. She couldn’t help remembering Emmrich’s own unwillingness to admit to his distraction in the early days of the relationship.

Then again, who was she to talk? After all, it had taken Emmrich pointing it out for her to admit how much she missed Runa. So instead, Harding just shook her head and smiled faintly.

“I know, right?” she said. “I try to get her to be a little less flippant, but…”

“A valiant effort,” Emmrich said. “If only she weren’t so terribly stubborn as well.”

“So stubborn,” Harding said. Her grin widened. “You know, Emmrich, I’m glad we decided to do this trip. This is nice.”

“I am glad to hear it,” he said. “I know I’m not always the easiest person to travel with, so I do appreciate your patience.”

“Aw, you’re fine,” Harding said, waving her hand. “Anyway, we just spent like five minutes talking about Runa, when this trip is supposed to be about us becoming better friends. You wanna do something else?”

“Certainly,” said Emmrich, turning to face her. “What did you have in mind?”

“I’ve got some cards somewhere,” Harding said. She sat up and began digging through her pack. “We could do Wicked Grace, or maybe a Nevarran card game? Are there Nevarran card games?”

“Why, yes!” Emmrich said, leaning forward. “There are several we could try. Who knows when this rain will let up?”

“Okay,” Harding said, grabbing the cards. “And then if it does, we can do that hike. Sound good?”

“Very much so.”

Harding grinned and began dealing.

[deputyrook]

Pls. What do you think Solas was thinking during the whole ordeal with Rook x Elgar???????? 🧎🧎🧎🧎

Read the fic anon is referencing here! (A03) Noncon mention below, 18+

oh man okay I was thinking about this last night. I'm going to give you two answers:

The slightly more serious answer is that Solas was horrified/disgusted by Rook's loss of agency. I have to imagine it's probably not the first time Solas has seen Elgar'nan rape a resistant slave in order to break them, which is why Solas warned Rook to endure in the beginning. He had a fairly strong idea about what was going to happen, had hoped Rook would be strong enough to withstand it, and was mildly disappointed (but not surprised) that she's not able to. Add in a very selfish element personal insult, as part of him considers Rook his agent, and you leave Solas as a little-bundle-of-angry-despair.

The slightly hotter answer, (and the one I choose to believe) is that Solas was a mix of horror, disgust, and reluctant arousal. All of the above applies, except you factor in that Solas and Elgar'nan are alike in many ways; that part of Solas (that he vehemently denies) does enjoy being smarter and better than ordinary people; that he has a line in Inquisition indicating he enjoys watching people get dominated; and that Solas has some latent attraction to Rook.

He hates himself for it, and he would never admit it, but watching Rook fall apart into a whining, begging mess under Elgar'nan's hands absolutely makes him hard. In an envious "But-I-know-I-could-fuck-her-better" way. His mind just goes wild with all the ways that he could be taking her apart instead- gentler, with more patience, until she was begging him for more, her mind fully intact and in agreement. He could pull all those little noises from her. A tiny little part of Solas' brain- that he tries to ignore- screams at him that Elgar'nan isn't her god. He is.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

admittedly I'm not a big fan of the Rook spy family theory (I prefer other, wilder ones this one is too smart and normal lol), but there is something actually damning I'm not sure you know yet based off your old post: did you know that Ortho regularly scans him to tell how surprised/honest he is and finds out his vitals - heart rate, literally are the same in all situations and contexts? Like, I thought it was something super scary but it turns out it probably is a secret agent skill.

[Referencing this theory!]

Omg, Spy x Family? 😳/j

Sometimes it’s just the most boring theories that are the most likely to be canon or just make the most sense! This was the case for the “Ortho is dead” theory (which got confirmed in book 6), but could also be true of the yet-to-be-confirmed “Leech mob family” theory.

Oh no, I’m aware! I believe it’s in Rook’s Beans Camo vignettes where Ortho scans him to detect if he’s telling the truth or not based on vital readings. (That’s only one circumstance though; I don't believe Ortho does it regularly or in all scenarios because he specifically asks Rook for his permission in the vignette!) It’s just that with how much content there is out of TWST, it’s easy to forget certain details and hard to comb through all the available lore for what else may be relevant. I thought to just stick with major examples shown in the main story and events for that theory.

Anyway! It’s not all that shocking to learn, especially when we know what Ortho is capable of and when we’ve been given a very clear example of Rook manipulating his heart beat to his advantage. As I mention in the original post, Rook controls his heart rate to convince Sebek that he, too, is scared, and therefore is not Sebek’s enemy. This is something that Trey points out after the group’s tension has been safely dispelled. That in of itself implies that Rook’s vitals would typically be normal—he just actively chose to change it when it benefits him.

Keeping cool and calm in even tough situations? Definitely a very suspicious and spy-like skill to have in his toolkit 😂 I’d know because I read Spy x Family and Loid has that skill too— I believe many agents irl have to pass a polygraph (“lie detector”) test, which really detects changes in heartbeat and perspiration… so being able to control those physiological components is a must! Control of pupillary dilation is particularly rare; overriding reflexes wired into musculature takes active effort and training.

Darker version of this theory: the Hunts are assassins for the criminal underworld 💀

[mysteriousdoll]

Okay so I guess as a Ben 10 fan I’m required to rant about one of the series.

And since everyone has done Alien Force and Ultimate Alien (which both had their flaws, but I still loved things in them, especially the aliens we met), I’ll take on Omniverse.

Now now, don’t get the wrong idea! I don’t hate Omniverse.

I liked quite a bit of Omniverse, really and truly. 

For example, some of the things I did like:

Some of the aliens introduced

Ben being more fun and being more of his own character, rather than being so bland.

Rook. I don’t think there was a single moment I didn’t like Rook?

Although I wasn’t originally a fan of him, I like Feedback. (Ahaha, Chromastone and Ghostfreak are still my favorites.)

Speaking of Ghostfreak, I LOVE how they finally gave the villain his own name! And it’s such a cool name! Zs’Skayr.

Continuing with Zs’Skayr, I loved him. So much. He’s such a good villain, honestly.

Kevin’s dog.

They kept Kevin’s car.

Skurd, he was funny, not gonna lie.

Background aliens and other aliens looked independent? And not COPY AND PASTED--lookin’ at you resurrection of people scene in The Secret of Chromastone. (Don’t even get me started on why I hate what they did with Diamondhead in Alien Force. ...like his name was pointless for that series specifically.... like they coulda just made Crystalsapiens have their backstory from Vilgax Attacks...)

However . . . there are some things I don’t like (obviously, Doll, that’s why you made this post):

The break up scene for Julie and Ben. I don’t even get why they had to break up? Like Ken couldn’t have existed UNLESS Kai was the mother? Why couldn’t have Julie been the mother? Someone who really liked him?I’m not even done here. Julie and Ben seemed to have been an amazing couple and had wonderful interactions, and Julie knows Ben. She would be able to tell if he was distracted by a video game. She isn’t an idiot. What pisses me off more is how much of an asshole she suddenly becomes? Like why? She was such a good character, and in my opinion the best love interest for Ben. (Edit: someone pointed some stuff out to me and made me realize there was good reason to keep them apart. I can’t say I now like Kai, because personally I just dislike her character, but I understand more as to why Julie was scratched off.)

The multiple ‘love interests’ he had. Like, I didn’t mind the episode where Looma, Attea, Nyancy Chan, and Ester fought over him, it was funny. But it honestly pisses me off beyond belief when people get genuinely triggered that Ben didn’t get with Looma or Attea, as they were a snack or something. Like . . . two of those relationships he was being forced into, one of which was a marriage he was tricked into. (Nyancy just liked him because of Rath and I’m assuming because she’s low key a furry. Jk jk) I won’t lie, I did like Ester. I didn’t think she had to become a love interest, but personally I really liked her. Especially because she wasn’t forcing Ben into the relationship.

Why was Petropia NEVER touched on again!? Like, we would’ve been able to see the Petrosapiens with DIVERSE designs!!!! Not to mention, they didn’t have the thrown in rock part of Petrosapien designs (where Diamondhead’s name made zero sense) in Omniverse, so that’d be gone. And like . . . more society depicted in Petropia?? Heck seein’ more of Sugilite???

The whole sudden multi-universe thing . . . I mean it was cool, but I just didn’t find it to be the greatest most interesting thing in the entire world.

This next part is just . . .  I have to make another bullet section for here. Because whooooo boy I have so much anger here. The ridiculous changes to some of the aliens. The aliens royally effed up design wise (some when Skurd changed them up.)

My boy, Chromastone. Like they did him good at first but then Skurd full on ruined him. Not to mention, Dee Bradely Baker had the perfect voice for him, 1v1 me. The VA they chose for Omniverse wasn’t bad, just . . . hard for me to not love the OG more.

Stinkfly

Big Chill, what the hell happened to his chest?

Swampfire--kinda, I’m glad there was reason and it was referencing his original original design.

Alien X, why this dude lookin like the Crimson Chin?

Brainstorm . . . it wan’t necessarily his design that was the major issue, not that it was good, but they RUINED his voice!! What happened to the sass!? The British accent?! His voice actor wasn’t bad, but . . . Dee Bradely Baker did it better.

Diamondhead, once again kinda, he just sort of has the whole Crimson Chin issue going on.

Echo Echo . . . something’s just . . . off.

Humungousaur, man, I don’t even know what it is but it’s just not right. I just . . . mh . . . I don’t like it. His head looks off, and his neck too . . .

XLR8, they made it look as though he had really thin bones? Also his helmet was way bigger than it needed to be. Also, voice issue. Not that Yuri Lowenthal did bad, no, I just really liked his original voice.

Rath, just . . . the SLIGHT change of his colors and his eye brows . . .  that wasn’t right, man.

If y’all got any more complaints feel free to add on.

[randomnonsensedragonage]

Opening Up

Runa Ingellvar x Lace Harding - 1419 words

Summary: Runa comes to Harding with a surprising proposal.

A/N: So, when I first played through Veilguard, I ended up feeling like my dwarven Mourn Watcher Rook had a ton of chemistry with and was very cute with both Harding and Emmrich. I actually couldn't decide which of them to romance with her, so I played through the whole Harding romance with this character, and am now going back and doing the Emmrich romance with her.

I still really like her with both characters, so I thought it would be fun to incorporate the idea of this being an open relationship and her dating both of them into my fics about Runa. I'm also a big Harding/Taash fan, so I thought it would be fun to have that relationship exist in this canon too!

Rest assured, if you're just here for Rook/Harding, I am still planning to write more fics that are just focused on them. I'll just also be doing ones that are Rook/Emmrich and ones that talk about the relationship configuration in addition to those!

Read on Ao3

“Hey, Lace.”

Harding looked up from her gardening at the sound of Runa’s voice. The other dwarf was standing by the doorway, nervous smile on her face.

“Hey, you!” Harding said. She wiped the dirt off her trousers and made to remove her gardening gloves and put down her trowel.

“No need to stop,” Runa said, coming over. She crouched down next to her, which made Harding frown.

“Runa…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” Runa said. They still hadn’t figured out the whole touch thing, and Harding didn’t trust Runa to not be an idiot about it ever since that disastrous kiss. But she settled for just shaking her head. Sometimes there was no point in arguing with Runa. Also, it was nice to have her so nearby.

“Whatcha planting?” Runa asked, glancing at the bed of soil Harding was working on.

Harding looked from the ferns she was planting, back to Runa, and back at the ferns again, and narrowed her eyes in confusion. Runa did know less about plants than she did, but she was pretty sure she knew what a fern was.

“Um, ferns?” Harding said. She wiped at her forehead, which was surprisingly sweaty. It was always a little too warm in her greenhouse room. “I figured they’ll grow nicely hear, and they remind me of home, you know?”

“Great, great,” Runa said distractedly.

She was staring down at her hands. Harding frowned and did put down her trowel. She turned to face Runa, pausing to slap the dirt off her gardening gloves before she leaned forward.

“Okay, there’s clearly something on your mind,” she said. “What’s going on?”

Runa sighed, shaking her long, dark hair out of her face.

“All right,” she said. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about. But, you have to promise to keep an open mind and not freak out, okay?”

Harding raised her eyebrows, alarmed. Runa’s eyes were pleading, which only increased Harding’s concern. Runa wasn’t nervous that often, or if she was, she hid it well. Harding turned to face her.

“Okay…” Harding said. “What’s going on? Everything all right?”

“Oh, yeah!” Runa said. “It’s just… the thing is…” She spread her hands, as if in defeat. “I like someone else.”

Harding’s mouth fell open. For a moment, she felt her insides turn to ice.

“O-oh,” she said.

“Oh. No!” Runa said quickly, seeming to realize what Harding thought. “I still like you. A lot. I like you and someone else.”

“Oh,” Harding said, the ice thawing. The alarm receded into confusion. “Well, I mean,” she said, all in a rush, “that’s not anything to worry about. People still get crushes, even in relationships.” She thought briefly of Taash, and her face grew warm. Focus, Harding.

“I know,” Runa said. “But it’s not just that. I’ve tried not to think about this person. I’ve tried to ignore the feelings and forget about it. But…”

She tugged at a strand of her long hair, nervously twining it around a finger, letting it go. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop thinking about them,” she said. She spoke slowly, as if choosing her word carefully. “So, that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I was wondering if it would be all right with you if I tried things out with them, too?”

Harding blinked and sat back a little bit, processing.

“Ohhh,” she said. Why couldn’t she say anything else? She was starting to annoy herself. “You mean like, opening up the relationship?”

“Yeah,” Runa said, nodding vigorously. “I’ve never done that before. But it works for some people, right?”

Harding frowned thoughtfully. She’d known a few folks in open relationships over the years, though she’d also never been in one herself, or really thought about being in one. How did she feel about it? She wasn’t sure.

“You don’t have to decide right now,” Runa said quickly, as though reading her thoughts. “You can take as long to think about it was you need. And you can say no, of course.”

Harding nodded, meeting Runa’s earnest, nervous gaze. She smiled.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”

“Really?” Runa said, relief in her voice. “You’re not mad, right?”

“Oh, no,” Harding said, meaning it. “Just surprised. And I’m not opposed to the idea. Just gotta think about it.”

“Of course,” Runa said. “And you’d better not say yes just because you’re trying to be nice, okay?”

Harding rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. “I won’t. I promise.”

Runa seemed so relieved that Harding felt the rest of the nervous ice in her heart melt. Despite her better judgement, she slid her hand forward and took Runa’s hand.

“Lace Harding!” Runa said, mock horror in her voice. She put her other hand to her heart. “Are you breaking the rules?”

“Oh, shut up,” Harding said. “I’m wearing gloves. You don’t feel sick, right?”

“Nope,” Runa said, squeezing her hand. “What a smart workaround. We should’ve thought of this earlier.”

“Well, better late than never, as my ma says.”

She gazed into Runa’s dark eyes, which were narrowed, staring at her as well. The urge to kiss her was suddenly overwhelming. To distract herself, she reached out and tucked a strand of long hair behind Runa’s hair. The other dwarf’s mouth fell open slightly.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Harding said, “who is this other person you like?”

“Ah,” Runa said, glancing away. Harding saw the color rise in her cheeks. “Well, that’s… promise you won’t think it’s weird?”

“Oh, come on,” Harding said, laughing. “Try me.”

“Okay, fine.” Runa breathed in, sighed out. “It’s actually… Emmrich.”

“Oh,” Harding said again, surprised. Then, “Oh!”

Now that she thought about it, Runa and Emmrich did get along like a house on fire. They were both Mourn Watch, and Runa was almost as interested in that death stuff as he was. Harding couldn’t count the number of times they’d been out on a mission together, and Runa and Emmrich got lost in enthusiastic conversation about some necromancy thing that made absolutely no sense to Harding. Actually, it was kind of nice, hearing them chatter away. Hearing Runa so happy, in a different but no less real way than she was with Harding.

Harding smiled to herself.

“You think it’s weird, don’t you?” Runa said.

“No, I don’t think it’s weird,” Harding said, moving her hand to lightly touch Runa’s cheek. “I can kind of see it. I mean, he’s a lot older, but you’re both adults, so…”

Harding thought, once again, of Taash. Taash wasn’t even in their 30s yet, she didn’t think. Were they too young for her? Stop thinking about that, Harding!

Runa nodded, looking relieved, though her color was still high. She placed her own hand over Harding’s, and leaned into her touch, closing her eyes.

“True,” she said. “Besides, I don’t even know if he likes me that way. He probably doesn’t.”

Harding frowned. “Why do you say that?”

Runa shrugged, opening her eyes. “I mean, why would he? I’m just a regular Mourn Watcher. It’s not like I’ll ever be a necromancer, or even a professor. It’s not like I have anything to offer someone like that.”

“If he cares about any of that stuff, then he’s an idiot,” Harding said bluntly. “You have plenty to offer, and anyone would be lucky to be with you.”

Runa opened her mouth in surprise, then smiled fondly at Harding. She moved Harding’s hand to her heart and squeezed.

Harding grinned. Maybe it was odd that she was hyping up her partner about her crush on another person. But, Harding had to admit there was something sweet about seeing Runa all flustered about a crush, even when it was on someone else. She still needed time to think about all this, true, but Harding thought she knew what her answer would be.

“You know, Lace,” Runa said then, leaning slightly closer in a way that almost made Harding warn her away. “If we do decide to do this open relationship thing, it wouldn’t have to be one way. If you ever like someone else, we can talk about that, too.”

Harding felt heat rush through her whole body, like she’d been found out. She shook her head, shaking all thoughts of Taash free. Not right now. They could cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Sure,” Harding said, clearing her throat. She squeezed Runa’s hand again. “I’ll definitely let you know.”