Sophia was not offended. All at once, she felt a strong desire to somehow—perhaps even by a miracle—set things right for these two young people as well. After all, the two of them deserved happiness.
This is a disaster! What's more, it's downright terrible! What if Liza also likes Kaleb? she thought.
"Damn that lottery, Sophia!" the boy finally burst out.
What did it matter if Sophia knew how he felt about Liza? Perhaps today or tomorrow she would return to her own world, and they would never meet again.
"So wait—can't even the parents discuss this whole family-starting business here, in your world?" the girl asked.
She allowed herself a little hope that there might still be some loophole for Kaleb and Liza. She observed the boy more closely.
His character seems straightforward, at least for now. He's clever, too. And of course, there's something about his looks that draws girls' attention. Why wouldn't Liza return his feelings? They've spent so much time together, she weighed the possibility that the maid might love Kaleb as well.
"No, Sophia. Even the parents of those who are to be married can't decide about family formation. About every two or three years, enough young people gather for Drathor to hold the drawing," he explained.
Sophia shook her head in disbelief.
"So this is the kind of thing Drakthor deals with," slipped out of her mouth thoughtlessly.
"With this as well, of course," the boy nodded. "After the drawing, he holds a great celebration and visits the young couples. The rule is that if one sibling moves forward within their district because the lottery pairs them with someone from a more prominent district, then the next sibling must move to a less prominent district if, during the drawing, they receive a partner born in their own district. That's how he maintains balance between the districts. He decides everything. And there will be a drawing this year, too. This time, I'll be assigned a partner as well."
"Almost everything?" Sophia asked, more curious than angry. "Can you give me an example of something he doesn't decide?"
Kaleb pondered this so long that Liza arrived in the meantime.
Sophia's question remained unanswered. For now.
In any case, Sophia's thoughts had already moved on. She was lamenting that if Kaleb were assigned a partner this year, she would lose Liza forever.
I have to do something about these two, she decided.
Then she focused on Liza and her behavior. She didn't seem unhappy. Her face was round, rosy, and well-proportioned, and her lips curved into a cheerful smile whenever Kaleb looked at her.
"This is Sophia. She's looking for a friend—uh… her love—somewhere in our district."
With a bright expression, Liza kindly extended her hand toward Sophia.
And now what am I supposed to do? Sophia's face seemed to ask as she looked at Kaleb helplessly.
"Just take her hand, Sophia!" the boy grinned.
"Sorry, I don't know how people greet each other around here," she apologized.
Well—yes. Kaleb had extended his hand to her as well, but not in greeting—rather to pull her out of the river after she had fallen into the icy water out of nowhere.
Liza nodded understandingly. Sophia's clothes and hair had dried by now, but after falling into the river, her overall appearance still looked rather disheveled and wrinkled.
Maybe she thinks I'm a servant, someone of her kind—that's why she's so kind, Sophia mused.
Sophia's style of dress had always been defined by simplicity.
She wasn't bothered that Liza mistook her for a servant. It was entirely logical: wandering around here like this, looking for her beloved—of course she must belong to the servants' district. Only they could decide who their partner would be.
I wonder how Kaleb will explain this to his parents, she pondered.
Liza turned to the boy again.
"Your mother sent me to call you home. She doesn't like it when you spend too much time here by the river."
"People are still afraid," Kaleb reminded Sophia, referring to how, after Mirael's strange disappearance, people mostly avoided the area around the bridge and the scrawny oak.
Kaleb didn't seem fearful, but even he had settled farther downstream, not near the little bridge.
"Sophia will come with us—she'll be our guest. I invited her because she won't make it home before evening," Kaleb explained.
"Doesn't her beloved live in our districts?" Liza asked, understandably surprised.
Kaleb and Sophia realized at the same moment that the story—that Sophia was searching for a friend or lover around here—still needed refining if they wanted Kaleb's parents to believe it.
Liza didn't pry further. Sophia hoped Kaleb would come up with a believable story for his parents by the time they got home.
Sophia didn't overthink it. She didn't know this world well enough to get tangled up in complex lies. Kaleb would solve it for her.
Liza, however, might now begin to suspect that something about Sophia—and her story—wasn't quite right.
"I could try to go home," Sophia whispered to Kaleb.
"Sure—so you can end up sitting by the river again. Drakthor's men patrol the riverbank constantly at night. They'll catch you and throw you into prison," the boy waved it off.
He didn't even bother to whisper behind Liza's back.
If Kaleb trusts Liza this much, maybe I should too, Sophia thought.
She risked voicing her suspicion aloud to Kaleb.
"Maybe Rhys is in Drakthor's prison. If I end up there too, at least—" she began.
Kaleb didn't let her finish that line of thought.
"Then the two of you will be sitting in prison together. It can take up to a month before Drakthor interrogates you and releases you both. He's never imprisoned a foreigner just for loitering by the river—but he does have people detained, and for some reason he interrogates them."
It became clear to Sophia what prison must be. That institution had long ceased to exist by the time she was born in her own world.
She had little desire to sit in Drakthor's prison for a month. But now she was almost certain that Rhys—the foreigner—had been taken there for loitering by the river. It was somewhat reassuring that Drakthor never sentenced anyone to prison for that after questioning.
Yes, Solveig saw that Rhys was fine—just locked up somewhere, she thought.
It became painfully obvious to Sophia that Rhys was here, in Drakthor's prison.
"Well, I'd rather not sit in Drakthor's prison for a month," she smiled at Kaleb.
"My family has already worried enough about me spending time here. It's time we go," he suggested. "You can try getting home from our place—however you manage it with your… technology."
"That wasn't technology," Sophia tried to begin explaining.
By now, Liza understood nothing at all. She looked at Kaleb curiously. On the way home, Kaleb and Sophia explained to the maid how and why Sophia had actually ended up here.
If Kaleb trusts Liza, then I will too, Sophia decided quietly.
She was glad that in Nexoria, besides Kaleb, there was someone else she could rely on.