The Necromancer's Stone; Chain Mail Embrace

Most of the time Thalia managed to settle right back into her routine; menacing the local jerks, blackmailing corrupt local officials, and passing all her classes with flying colours.  She was still doing the last one, easily, but somehow the rest just wasn't coming back the way it normally did.  It had been an exciting holiday, no denying that, but her holidays were usually fairly intense.  Why was this time different?
"You're alive!"  Her train of thought was interrupted by a shorter woman in light chain mail barreling into her.  Normally this would have been a surprise, but it was nearly as traditional as the walk up the eighty-four staircases.  Although admittedly this year it was a bit more deserved than usual, the last time she'd been seen she was falling into Honour Glen from the Imperial ski lodge.  That she was alive really was incredible.
"Hey Katie.  Yeah, I'm alive.  How're you?"
"I'm good.  Holidays were pretty boring after you left.  But lets not get off topic; what happened?  Last I saw that dude with the sword had just thrown you off a cliff."
"Well, it turns out he was only dating that girl because he was sick of people thinking he was gay.  Actually, he's really nice.  A bit quiet, but still really nice."
"So, did you kill him?"
"No.  And clearly he didn't kill me.  We managed to work things out peaceably."
"Oh?"
"That's it."  Thalia had this funny feeling that Katie wouldn't be nearly as happy to hear about her date on Friday as she would pretend to be.  There had never really been any question that Katie liked her, even if she did date other people.  And even though Thalia didn't share the feeling, she did hold Katie in high regard, and didn't want to hurt her.  It did seem to be a growing inevitability that her lesbian best friend would find out about her and Hal eventually though.  Maybe she could wait a while, but it was only a matter of time really.
"You look like you have something on your mind?"
"His name is Hal, and we ended up spending the rest of the holiday together.  He walked me home, took me out for a drink, we went to Appeni to talk to someone he thought could help with one of my projects."  She paused.  "We're going to the opera on Friday."
Katie was speechless.  In fact, Thalia noted with some surprise, she was so stunned by the news that her normally incredible mental defenses were utterly dropped.  There wasn't any of the heartbreak that she had feared; it seemed the entire scenario was just that unlikely.  It was actually somewhat frightening to realize how certain Katie was that she would never engage in an actual romantic relationship, even at a preliminary level.
When she finally began to reassemble her thoughts, after well over a minute's delay, Katie sat upright and let Thalia crawl out from where she'd been pinned since the blonde mage's arrival.
"What's he like?"
"Noble, strong, and just; he's like a knight from a fairy tale."
"Where's he from?"
"No clue, but I think I know how to find out."
"What does he do?"
"Throws people out windows."
"How old is he?"
"About two years older than me.  That one at least I'm pretty certain of."
"Does he like you?"
Thalia didn't hesitate to reply with a firm "Yes".  It wasn't as though she had any real reason to be certain of it, all she'd done was ask.  Still, Hal didn't seem to be the sort who'd lead a girl on.  And since she'd already offered him any of the things men normally wanted, she couldn't see any reason for him to have lied.  the only thing he gained from dealing with her was dealing with her.  Anything else he'd have been getting anyways.  It certainly made it hard to manipulate him, but that was part of being in a real relationship, not manipulating each other.
"Do you like him?"
"Yes.  At least I think so.  He's the most handsome man I've ever met.  He's honest and kind, and I can tell he's not putting on an act.  I feel..comfortable around him.  Like nothing else matters."
Katie started to move and Thalia put her hands up defensively.  But found herself ensnared in a tight, armor-clad hug before she could react.
"I always knew you'd find someone.  I'm glad you didn't kill him before you figured it out."
Thalia glanced around uncomfortably.  It wasn't Katie's affection that bothered her, although the cold, hard links of her chain mail weren't exactly welcome.  It was that a small crowd had gathered around them.
"I'm going to have to do something really, supremely evil to make up for all this."