Ana stretched her arms as she sat back in her seat, sighing as she slouched in the tall chair and surveyed the crowded bar. Between the time she had arrived with Callaghan and the time she finished her food, the relaxed dinner crowd had been replaced by rowdy evening drinkers.

There were mostly young adults, couples and friend groups. A teenager in a flowered sun dress cuddled up to a young man in a jean jacket and beanie. There was even a band consisting of a violinist, drummer, and guitarist setting up their equipment in the back corner.

Ana returned her attention to her own dinner partner. He was picking at the last of his spaetzle-- which the girl understood to be thick, cheesy egg noodles. She had already cleared her plate of sausages, sauerkraut, and a pretzel the size of her head. The rich new tastes had paired so perfectly with her frothing pint of beer that she had downed two of them to wash down the meal. The bar tender was eyeing her and her small stature as if expecting the girl to topple out of her chair. For once she felt thankful for her upbringing in a desert with little water, but plenty of fermented cactus juice.

Just then the band came to life. It was a raucous combination of hammering drum beats, sawing violin-ing, and singing too closely to the music. Table mates crowded closer together to shout over the noise. Voices, laughter, swearing, and music melded into a cacophony of weekenders splurging their work and college frustrations. Ana noticed Callaghan wince. "What's wrong?" she called over the noise. "You don't like music?"

"I forgot they played live music here on Friday nights! I feel bad for your terrible introduction to Berlin. I was hoping to make up for dinner with somewhere low key, not insane!" he shouted back. As if to prove his point, two beefy college boys tumbled to the ground as the wooden table gave way under their overly enthusiastic arm wrestling. A roar of laughter momentarily overtook the music as the fallen men were helped up by their comrades.

"It's okay, I like it," Ana insisted. When Callaghan's unconvinced frown remained, she rolled her eyes. "I thought you were a photographer, an artist. Aren't artists supposed to live in the moment, be a free spirit?"

She didn't hear his response as the back corner started clapping along as the band finally found their beat. But she could read the tension in his shoulders, the annoyance in those brown eyes. Flabbergasted with his stubborn decision that he had ruined her evening with a poor choice for dinner, Ana abruptly stole the warlock's drink, downed the pint, pushed back her seat, and jumped down from her chair. She stuck her tongue out at the warlock as she retreated through the crowd and towards the band, swaying with the beat.

By the time Cal caught up, Ana was nodding her head and shoulders in tune with the bass, clapping along with the rest of the crowd, a wide grin on her face. The warlock chuckled, amused by how easily the girl got into the music. She misinterpreted the laughter for mockery. Sticking her tongue out at him again, she spun past him, her elbows just barely missing him. "Hey!" he objected, attempting to catch her, but she twisted back with a giggle.

He followed after with a laugh as she ducked under an elbow of a meaty jock and skipped to an opening in the crowd. Ana danced backwards until Callaghan caught up, then squeaked and hopped onto a chair, then its table. Cal stopped himself from following after, remembering the earlier fiasco with the arm wrestlers ruining one table already. So he settled with watching her move to the music, bouncing on the balls of her feet, whirling in a slow circle, letting her arms lead her to the violin's tempo. She pushed her coppery curls from her face with her fingers and left them there as she rocked her body with the drummer's beat. The girl in the sundress leapt up beside her and they both giggled, putting their backs together and glancing over their shoulders to watch the other rock her body with the guitar's rumble.

Ana's eyes found Cal dancing beside the denim-jacketed teenager with a laugh. She jumped down from the table to let the other girl have the spotlight, accepting the beer that was offered for her joint performance. Parched and sweaty from dancing in the room packed with bodies, Ana drained the jug before rejoining her original dinner partner. He grinned when he saw her and let her move in close, swaying with him. "Having fun finally?" she shouted, her lips brushing his ear.

"You were incredible!" Callaghan yelled back. His next words were lost in the roar of the guitar solo. "What'd you say?" she asked once it gave way to the drum's beat once again.

"I asked how you do it, let yourself be so carefree. Most people who have been through what you went through would be so jaded and somber. But you don't let those things weigh you down!"

"What are you talking about?" she called, pulling away just a bit. The young man attempted to explain over the drums, "I mean what your sister had done to you-"

Ana had backed a foot away from him. Even as the dance's intoxication faded, her cheeks were flushed with the onsetting effects of the fourth beer. The music died away, and in the clamor of applause that followed, Cal realized he had made a mistake. "My...my dad had people watching you and Eline," he attempted to explain. "I thought you knew!"

"Watching us?" she demanded. "You mean SPYING on us?" The redhead suddenly spun away, pushing through the crowd. She easily ducked and squeezed through the crowd with her tiny stature and had already stepped outside by the time Cal stumbled out into the dark alley.

"Ana, wait! You can't leave alone, you're drunk."

"Your dad was SPYING on us?!" she shouted. "That's insane! So you think you know everything about me now? How MUCH do you know about me?"

"Ana, please, calm down. I didn't mean to overstep. What Eline's men did to you, it's nothing to be ashamed of-"

"STOP." Ana held up a hand. Her eyes glinted gold with unkempt rage. "How MUCH do you know?"

"Just- just that you grew up in a demon dimension with your elder sister," he stumbled over himself. "That when she became queen, she turned on you, paranoid of everything that could threaten her power. She sold you to a king, ruined the marriage with his son the prince by having four of her men attack you... and a year later, you tried to kill her. And you failed. So she branded you a criminal to make an example out of you, and you became a courier..." He trailed off, and she stared back at him. The recounting of the worst parts of her life had drained the energy from her, reduced her to her drunken stupor. "What do you want from me?" she asked. "Because you seem to already have all the answers."

"I...want an alliance, that's all. Our families are meant to work together, to get justice for what they did to your family, and regain honor for all of us." As he answered, she crossed her arms and walked a few wobbly steps away as to distance herself from him. He resorted to a calmer tone. "I don't know everything about you, I know that. I don't understand why you waited a year to attack your sister after she ruined your marriage, or why you tried to do it on your own. And I don't understand your spirit, Ana, how you keep fighting, laughing, dancing, despite it all. So no... I don't know everything about you."

Ana turned back, her arms crossed as if the warm evening night held a chill only she could feel. "You don't know ANYTHING about me."

Callaghan returned her glare with a stare before finally nodding in submission. Ana turned back to face the street, dismissing his questions and guilt. "Take me home, Callaghan."