I told her she looked nice and she replied that she was hoping I thought so, as we made our way to her kitchen she said I hope you like what I got you... In the kitchen I was pleasantly surprised to find a $500 bottle of wine that her and I had conversations about because we are both coinsures. I immediately said lets open it and she grabbed the cork screw and had that thing opened quick. We spent the next hour talking about wine and getting drunker with each sip. We were sitting on her couch. She was the only one who knew about Zax's true thoughts and his acknowledgment of the fact that he might not win the competition."It's still the first round and there are several who ended their fights without showing their real strength". Zax carefully said. Elita was weak in comparison to him, wining against her did not make him over confident. Seeing that his choice of words mildly changed Anet's expression, he retracted. "Still, if I were to pick my opponent, I would rather fight with one. "Maybe we—" "Do you realize I've been Queen almost ten yearsand I've never been west of the River?" she demanded of her advisor. "Well, Milady, your mother died when you were quiteyoung, I don't think ten years—" The queen rolled her eyes and stomped back intothe dark bedroom. She threw herself sideways onto one of the divans in a huff,eyes following Minok as the aged woman came back into the bedroom, her faceset in an unreadable mask. "Don't make that face at me," the queen warnedher. "You. For almost twenty three years they’d sat in the box, and I’d get them out and think about a time when my mom and dad were married. They were probably happy for a time. When they divorced, my mom asked for his ring so I could have the set one day. He told her not to pawn it. She didn’t. Ironically enough, his wedding band fits my ring finger. So for the days before the funeral, and the day of, the simple silver band resided on my ring finger. My thumb would brush across it occasionally,.