Chapter 20

"Simon?" Lien called out to him as she entered his temporary residence.

"Lien, what's going on?" Simon asked her. "How did I get here, did we leave here from the ball?"

"You… you really don't remember do you?" Lien asked uncertainly, her voice hovering between concern and suspicion. She cautiously approached him, as if Simon were a dangerous animal.

"I… I came with a registered companion, is she here?"

"Why did you come to Londinum?" Lien asked him, apparently choosing suspicion.

Simon's mind scrambled for a suitable answer, another partial truth that would allow him to bluff his way past her. "I came because of some information… on my sister. I came to find it," Simon explained.

"What kind of information?" Lien pressed.

"It… it had to do with her location," Simon supplied. It's not exactly a lie.

"So you do not know where your sister is?" Lien asked incredulously.

Well… not exactly, Simon thought, but said, "No, I cannot tell you where she is."

Lien released a weary sigh and placed a hand on his shoulder. She looked at him sadly and said, "Simon, I am the only reason you are still alive and free-"

"Free?" Simon interrupted her as he shrugged her hand off of his shoulder.

"Not incarcerated, if you prefer," Lien continued irritably as she crossed her arms in front of her, "You need help, Simon, and I can't help you if you won't work with me."

"I won't betray River," Simon resolutely declared, "don't waste your breath,"

"Then let us talk about the real reason you are here," Lien countered. "Why would one of the 'verse's most wanted… travel to a core planet and attend a public spectacle?"

"I miss the parties we used to attend together," Simon responded sarcastically.

"Don't mock me," Lien warned.

"I would have called, Lien, honest, but I'm afraid you're just not a very good dancer-"

"Simon, I don't have time for this…"

"-but you know who is a great dancer? River! She's way better than you ever-"

Lien lost her temper and interrupted his speech