Samantha dismissed the servant who was cleaning, although she tried to just merely clean somewhere else. Kim couldn't help but get the sense that this maid wasn't there to really clean, but rather keep an eye on them. She wasn't sure if she should take action or not, but she was stopped by Samantha.
"It's okay, you can get that later," Samantha told the maid, surprising Kim. "I need to discuss things about a sensitive matter with my guests."
The maid at first looked like she didn't hear Samantha. She merely stopped moving and was staring ahead, towards the wardrobe in the corner of Samantha's room. Then after a minute she looked at Samantha and nodded, giving a half bow before leaving the room.
Once the servant was gone, Samantha motioned for Kim and Elin to sit around the small table. Kim wasn't sure if the small chairs would support her weight, with the armor on, but she sat down anyway after Elin had gotten herself comfortable.
Kim was glad that Elin looked to be back to her old self. That and she didn't seem like a zombie anymore. Her eyes were clear and focused as they were when Kim had first seen her in that room, what seemed now like years rather than a matter of weeks.
"So what did the king want?" Samantha asked as she settled down and made herself comfortable.
Kim glanced at Elin then Samantha's maid before looking back at Samantha. "The king was merely offering us assistance if we needed it," Kim answered, not sure what the king might or might not be happy with her sharing. So, she merely went with what would be apparent soon enough. "In return for all of us helping with stopping the attempt on his life."
Samantha's face lit up. "Do you think my brother will be allowed that too?" she asked, her voice full of excitement. "He did help out in getting everyone out to the back gate."
Kim merely shook her head, ignoring Elin's confused expression. Elin had slept through all of this, so Kim knew that she wouldn't know about any of this. Not that Samantha would be aware of it.
"I can't say what the king will or won't do. He merely told us that. What else he said, I'm not sure that I'm free to divulge that information," Kim answered. "You can ask him yourself, but I can't say what his answer will be."
Samantha nodded, looking down, looking like Kim had just stolen her ice cream cone. Making her feel more guilty than she was happy with, even though she really hadn't done anything wrong.
"Look, I'll see if I can ask him about it if I can, but right now I can't do anything about it," Kim continued, hoping that would be enough.
Samantha looked happy with that offer, so Kim let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Aside from that," Samantha said, clearly changing to a different subject as she turned to look at Elin, "how did you know the steps to that dance so well?"
"Why wouldn't I know the steps?" Elin asked, tilting her head a little to the side. Which Kim was pretty sure she didn't realize she was doing that, although she couldn't help but find it a little cute and a little amusing to see.
"Because that's the forbidden dance," Samantha answered. "No one's allowed to learn the steps. The king issued that proclamation when he first became king."
"Why is it forbidden?" Elin asked, clearly hung up about that point.
Samantha, however, merely shrugged. "No one knows. We didn't even know about the dance until the king showed us it in the first place. He wrote down what the steps were, but he never made the reasons public for doing that," she answered, looking a little confused at Elin's confusion.
Kim felt like she was watching something from either The Twilight Zone or the Outer Limits. It really felt like it was rather surreal and strange. What this was heading towards, Kim could only speculate.
"But I learned that dance from the first day I had my first dance lesson," Elin protested calmly. "Why did the king forbid learning the steps for it?"
"Uh, Elin?" Kim interjected, drawing Elin's attention. "Let it go. I'm pretty sure Samantha's the last person who would know the answer to that question right now. You should wait to ask the king about it."
Elin sighed, clearly annoyed by Kim's statement, but didn't say anything. Kim couldn't help but wonder if Elin was just unhappy that she wasn't getting a response to her legitimate question.
"Anyway," Samantha said, again moving the conversation along, "Where are you from? And how did you meet my brother?"
Kim couldn't help but chuckle at the direction this change in the topic took. Especially since Kim could tell by Samantha's expression that this was the topic she'd most wanted to talk about.
Given how she was ten, Kim wouldn't be surprised if she became a formidable politician when she got older. Yet, she if she was more subtle about it, it would help her tremendously, but she certainly had self control down, which would certainly help her quite a bit.
"I'm…" Elin hesitated. Kim wasn't surprised. They really never did get the name of the country Elin was from, or if there was a name for their world or not. Although, she certainly was enjoying watching Elin's discomfort.
As well as watching her squirm in that discomfort.
"I'm from the kingdom of Shaestell," Elin finally replied, sounding like she was having to throw up the name rather than either spitting it out or letting it come out naturally. "And I met your brother when Jonas brought him and his friends to the inn we were staying at and asked me to heal them."
"Oh, he did, did he?" Samantha asked, her eyes glittering with mischief. "What'd he do this time?"
Kim couldn't help but start chuckling. Elin glanced at Kim in confusion before turning back to Samantha. "Yes, but I didn't ask why he needed healing and Lance didn't tell me what it was that happened."
The ten year-old stared at Elin in shock. "Why not?! There's got to be a good juicy story that came with that," she whined.
Kim smirked. "That's because Elin trusts Jonas and we couldn't tell if knowing might get us into more trouble or not," Kim said, not sure what Samantha was really looking for.
Samantha sighed, looking a little irritated that she wasn't getting the answers she clearly really wanted. Though, she was still clearly still friendly towards Elin and Kim.
"So, why were you looking for dirt on your brother?" Kim asked when Samantha and Elin didn't seem to have anything to say right away.
Samantha blinked at Kim's question. "Why? Well, because he's my brother?" Samantha muttered, looking away, towards her maid. "I need anything I can get in case he gets something on me."
Sibling rivalry certainly is a valid reason for her to ask, but Kim couldn't help but think that there might be more to it than the girl was letting on.
"It's okay, I'll just ask Lance later," Kim said as if she was merely commenting on the weather.
"No, don't!" Samantha cried, earning a wry grin from Kim.
"Alright, if you don't want me to ask him, and of course, let him know the reason I'm asking, why're you trying to get dirt on him?"
Samantha sighed. "Its because if he screws up again, he coul get cut from the inheritance and I'll have a chance to be chosen to take over as the next duchess of my family," Samantha mumbled.
Kim nodded. This felt like this was a more honest answer. Although, as she glanced at Elin, it was clear that Elin was at a loss with the exchange that had just transpired between the two.
"Wh- how…" Elin stumbled in her words before taking a deep breath. "How did you know she wasn't honest in her first answer?"
Kim smiled gently at Elin. "Can't really say," she admitted. "It just felt like her first answer wasn't at least the whole reason. Not anything that I could really put a finger on."
"Okay," Elin murmured, shifting her weight in the chair made for someone much younger than Elin or Kim were.
"By the way, is that the only reason for wanting to get your brother disinherited?" Kim asked, wondering if the real reason for that wasn't as cold and conniving as Samantha had made it out to be.
Samantha sighed and looked down at the table, where she was clenching her hands together, looking like a picturesque representation of abject misery.
"It's because I know my brother won't be happy with the women my mother's trying to get him interested in. If he's disinherited, then he'll be able to choose who he wants to marry. Then he won't be unable to do what he'd really like to do and do something more than just sitting around in this city, trying to better our family's position."
Kim nodded, like she'd expected that, though in truth, she was merely curious about it. She wondered what about the relationship between the two of them was for them to have such concern for the other. Although, considering a few things she'd heard from the party the night before, she could at least comfort herself in knowing it wasn't a brother-sister complex sort of thing. Or at least not on the sister's end. She wasn't yet sure about Lance, but didn't really feel like trying to learn that either.
"So, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Kim asked Samantha with a teasing xmile, feeling like she they should end this conversation before they start sharing secrets that probably could create other problems. "Or are you done with trying to pry into our lives?"
Samantha merely shook her head with a small smile of her own. "No, I'm done," she answered before pausing for a moment. "Uh, for now at least. I think I hear someone coming."
"What's that mean?" Elin asked, sounding surprised.
Kim doubted it was anything bad, given Samantha's lack of alarm, but when she focused on it, she could hear footsteps getting closer. At a pace that said there was a purpose for whoever was making them.
"It means we're about to get company," Kim replied.
What startled Kim about Elin's reaction was the flustered look that crossed her face as she ran over to Samantha's bed and hid behind the curtains. Kim wasn't sure what to say in response to that and before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door.
Kim looked at Samantha, who looked like she wasn't bothered or surprised at Elin's reaction. Merely like it was something that she had expected in the first place.