“I think you’re speaking and your teeth are tripping over your tongue,” Cozy spoke to the governor candidate. Cozy and Phiona stood on top of the penthouse balcony, overlooking the entire city. There weren’t any guards here, just the two of them.

  The governor was stumbling over her words. “Righ- right… but… if I don’t… don’t get my point across… then people… people will lose interest…”

  “So you’re trying to speak fast, then?” Cozy asked. “Well. Clarity is number one for any kind of negotiation with people. You can speak fast but you certainly don’t speak clearly.”

  “Really…? Really…”

  “Nobody has ever told you that?” Cozy crossed her arms.

  “I-I’m being… protected. I, uhm… uh, don’t have a lot of time to… you know… considering the… everything…”

  Cozy frowned. “I think you being stuck up here is an obvious problem, then.”

  “B-But… they need me!” Phiona said. “If something… something… uh… happens to me then, then… it’ll be really bad.”

  “Listen. If we fix your speech problems, we’ll need to find you a way to talk to your subjects more. I think this city needs hope, considering that we got attacked the second we got here.”

  “It’s… dangerous. I… I know it… so… and you do too…”

  “Well, let’s focus on one thing. Do you think you can be the governor?”

  Phiona paused at Cozy’s question. A thoughtful expression came over her face, as she closed her eyes and opened her mouth.

  “I don’t kno—”

  “You’re wrong. You do know.”

  Cozy interrupted Phiona as soon as she spoke. That caused the girl to freeze up in surprise, but Cozy pressed on further.

  “You were chosen by the Lovebird, so you do know if you can be the governor. The answer is a resounding yes. Always remember who you are, because running from it isn’t going to do you any good.”

  “...what… what do you know… about being chosen?” Phiona muttered.

  With a bit of consideration, Cozy put her arms on the girl’s shoulders and looked her dead in the eye. “What I know doesn’t matter.”

  Her glowing wings spread behind her, creating a holy light that shone onto Phiona. The warmth encompassed the both of them, as Cozy moved her hands into the girl’s arms and began to lift her into the air.

  “But you need to know a lot. And the most important thing to know isn’t just that you need to be strong, but it is that you are strong.”

  “I…I’m strong…?”

  Cozy’s wings flapped, and the two of them began to fly over the skyline. The tops of tall buildings shone under them, with the neon lights basking both of them in the air. They were safely in the skies, where nobody else could see them.

  “The City of Love is built on its people. They’re the very blood that keeps everything going, because without people… Love doesn’t move.”

  The two of them flew over houses. Small, humble abodes, strikingly different from the hotel that the two of them were originally staying in. They flew to the very edge of the safezone, and guards were strewn about, barricading the entrance in and out.

  Phiona looked at the guards. The barriers surrounding them. They were cutting out the rest of the city, which had dimmer lights, only illuminated by the moon.

  “I… I knew about this, but it’s still h… hard to see,” Phiona muttered.

  “Yeah. It is,” Cozy said. “I don’t want to put expectations on you to fix all of it. But I want you to know that I think you’re strong enough to help. Because the governor is the heart of the city, and they are the ones that the people need.”

  Phiona nervously looked at Cozy. Cozy looked back.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “That’s what the previous governor said, at least. She’s pretty good at speeches and all that. You don’t have to be though, love takes a lot of different forms.”

  Cozy began to fly back to the hotel, and this time the two of them looked even closer at the city. People were still moving about. For their lives, their work, and their survival, but the atmosphere was different. It felt just a little bit weak, as if people were too worried to move with the vigor that Cozy remembered in the City of Love.

  The blood was only barely surviving. It was the only thing the body knew how to do without a strong heart.

  The two of them landed back onto the balcony, their feet touching the ground once more. From this position, everything looked so restricted again. The view was beautiful, but hard to breathe in. Cozy turned to Phiona, who immediately ran back inside her penthouse.

  Cozy sighed in relief. She was happy that worked, since this was a significantly bigger task and negotiation than she had to ever do before. Previous merchanting experience is highly different from anything political. A brief moment to herself really helped keep her mind focused for this. Soon after, she followed Phiona back into the penthouse.

  “Are you serious? What has she been telling you?”

  “I want… I want to go talk to my people! Is that so b…bad?”

  “You were running down the stairs. You couldn’t have at least tried to tell us, first?”

  It seemed like Max and Junice had come back, and Phiona had just made an ill-advised decision. There was still a bit more cleaning up to do.

  Cozy walked in to try and clear things up. “I took a breath. What happened?”

  “I caught this girl running halfway down the stairs! Where were her guards? Did you tell her to do that?” Max complained.

  “I didn’t tell her to do that. It must have been a conclusion she made on her own,” Cozy crossed her arms.

  “Whatever. It’s still bad for the governor to be running about on her own without her guards!”

  “The guards will only get in the way! How am I supposed to talk to people with five of them just staring and scaring anyone I meet?”

  “Sometimes it really feels like you don’t understand the situation we’re in.”

  “Hold on a minute, you two,” Junice finally stepped in after observing for a moment. She then turned to Cozy. “What exactly did you tell her?”

  “Just something the old governor said at a fair one time,” Cozy shrugged. “It was a small festival, so there weren’t a ton of people, but she decided to stop by.”

  “Hm. And she wants to go out now?”

  “Yes!” Phiona said. “She… she said that the governor is the heart of the city, and I’m gonna… I’m gonna need to get that blood running!”

  “Not exactly how I phrased it, but yes,” Cozy added. “I just think it would be better for her to know her people.”

  “With criminals running about? We’re gonna need a bunch of guards to cover every angle,” Max said.

  “I don’t want that!” Phiona complained. “What… who… who am I supposed to be if… if I,, I’m just surrounded…?”

  “Max is right. As much as I would like to let you get out… it’s not gonna be safe to just have you run around. We’re not even that strong of magic users, we could easily get overwhelmed,” Junice began to say, but then Cozy had an idea and raised her hand.

  “I can go with her. So can Adelyn, Ed, and Teddie,” Cozy said. “We’re crazy strong, so I think we can handle it.”

  “Excuse me?” Max stepped up. “I let you stay here because there were other guards who could save the Governor-candidate if anything went wrong, but now you want to get rid of them and go alone with her?”

  “Max…” Junice said.

  “No. This is obviously a risk! Why should we trust four kids with the protection of our most important person, especially when who knows what side they could be on.”

  “Max, they’re from Lune. We hashed this out already,” Junice said.

  “That could easily be a bluff! We never actually tested their blood, did we? And we wouldn’t be able to unless we got some of those tears which we really don’t have-”

  A glowing light emanated from the center of the room before he could finish his sentence. Cozy’s wings had spawned behind her back, and the holy light of the moon shined throughout the entire room. The girl stepped forward towards Max, and the light wasn’t warm like when she showed Phiona… but harsh. The other side of Midnas’ light, under this sky.

  “I don’t want you to misunderstand who I am,” Cozy said, looking at Max. “We’re here to help. That is my intention.”

  The harshness was a display of power. It was supposed to be reassurance, that she and her friends were more than capable of helping, and they wanted to do so. Cozy didn’t like the idea of using her power this way, but it was the only option in her mind.

  “Woah…” Max paused. “I’ve never…”

  “You truly are special, aren’t you?” Junice asked.

  Cozy closed her eyes, and dispelled her wings. She didn’t want to have to do that again. “Can you please just trust me and my friends? We need this just as much as you.”

  Max and Junice looked at each other, before quietly nodding.

  “I can’t deny that. You are… very impressive,” Max said. “If the light of the moon wishes to guide us, then… so be it.”

  “I can see your vision, Cozy,” Junice said. “Please, help us in any way you can.”

  Phiona grabbed Cozy in a hug, all of the sudden. “Thank you so much! I promise for you I’m going to become the best governor ever!”

  Cozy felt the warmness return to her, as Phiona’s hug melted away any of her worries. This was workable, and maybe things would get better from here.