“I need to confess something…I did it. Now, can you pass the wine?”

Li looks at me witheringly. She looks at the wine bottle skeptically. “I don’t think I should let you have this wine,” she says snarkily.

I make a grab for the bottle. Li snatches it before I can and holds it out of my reach.

“Lance, why in the continent did you think it was a good idea to storm the Council’s meeting and spout off to them?!”

I stand up and slap my hands on the table between us. “Please,” I shout back, “you do the exact same thing all the time!”

“Do the two of you feel better now?”

Li and I both look at the doorway. Alyx leans against the frame, laughing at us while Corbin is the perfect embodiment of my constantly worried mother.

I point accusingly at Li. “She won’t let me have the wine!”

“I at least do so tactfully!” Li shouts at me, picking up our argument from where we had been interrupted.

I snort. “You? Tactful?”

Li swats at me. I jerk away.

“Okay, you two,” Corbin says as he strides into the room. He flops onto one of the chairs in an uncharacteristic manner. He points a finger at both of us. “You guys are friends, act like it!”

Alyx picks up an apple and bites into it. “They are,” he says around his mouthful of fruit. He swallows. “Alice, I know you well enough to know you are internally applauding Lance, so I think you can have mercy on the poor guy and let it go.”

Li sniffs and straightens her back. “I suppose,” she says grudgingly. She flashes a grin my way. “I heard you did excellent work on the insult.”

I breathe an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Heavens, Li,” I say, “you just had to make me sweat.”

“What are friends for,” Li replies jokingly. “You’re right, I would’ve done the same thing, Lance. But I’m trying to resist ‘rocking the boat’ right now.” Li rolls her eyes and uses air quotes around her last words.

“I’m sorry, Li,” I say contritely. “I’ll try to rein myself in. I don’t want to cause you any more trouble. You and James have enough to deal with as it is.”

Li’s smile falters slightly. “Yeah,” she says quietly.

I break the silence. “Pass me the wine.”

Li eyes me.

“Oh, come on, Li,” I say pleadingly.

Alyx picks up one of the bottles. “Vi – Vinubrum,” he says haltingly. He looks at me. “Why so gung-ho with the wine anyway? You don’t drink.”

“I’ve been wanting to try it,” I say, shrugging.

“Besides, after the wreck of a week we’ve had I thought I – we,” I corrected, “deserved it.” I smile winningly at Li.

Li still looks wary.

Corbin leans his head against the top of the chair. “I don’t know why you’re worried, Li,” he says calmly. He casually tosses his favorite dagger in the air, catching it each time. “It’s not like we can get drunk.”

“True,” Li says thoughtfully. She eyes the bottle. “Pour me a glass.”

“Whoo!” I exclaim. I pour a glass for all of us.

We clink our glasses and swallow the liquid.

Li wrinkles her nose. “Eh, let’s try another bottle,” she suggests.

………

“Alice, what have you been up to…” James trails off. He looks at the four of us. Then at the bottles sitting on the table. He snaps his jaw shut. He scratches his neck and says, “Alice, if I’d known you were this stressed I would’ve helped with — this?” He gestures vaguely at the table.

Li drains the last of her glass and sets it on the table. “We are now absolutely certain, James,” she says candidly, “that none of us can get drunk. I’m not even sure what number this glass is, but I feel fine. Completely normal.”

“This is very true,” I add. “This is probably the only benefit of the raw serum.”

James crosses his arms. He looks at us skeptically and replies, “So you guys are saying you literally cannot get drunk.”

“Nope,” Li, Alyx, and I all chorus together.

“See,” Li says cheerfully. She proceeds to walk in a perfectly straight line. Then she performs two backflips, landing each with precision despite doing them right next to furniture.

James holds up his hands. “I believe you,” he says, smiling.

“Don’t tell Captain Rudman about this, please,” Corbin asks. He carefully sets his empty glass on the table in front of him.

“How many –,” James breaks off. He shakes his head. “Actually, I don’t want to know. Because then I would be obligated to report you…so, yeah, forget I asked.”

“So, you don’t want a glass too?” I ask him cheekily.

“Not right now,” James answers. He grins at me. “I actually wanted to talk to my fiance.” He looks at Li. “We’re supposed to go to the luncheon today.”

Li looks at the bottles on the table. “Then it’s a good thing I’m unable to get drunk,” she says a little sheepishly.

As James and Li leave, I raise my glass and say, “Good luck, guys! A toast to both of you in the hope your appetites won’t be ruined by the Council’s frowning faces.”

My friends’ laughter echoes behind them as they walk down the hall. I eye the remaining wine in the bottle. Just one more glass.