Petrichor

by heyday (liimbo)

Summary:

“I think I like girls,” Vertin said from her bed one day, her mind in a tangle of thoughts as she watched the rain gently patter against the window.

Lilya paused in the middle of uncapping her canteen, hesitated, and then quickly resumed unscrewing the cap before throwing her head back and taking a huge swig.

Chapter 1

It was 1929 in Chicago and about to rain and Vertin tried, she really did try.

In the few minutes left as the Storm began to brew, she had her suitcase open on the floor, her incantations ready, and her mind running over every step of the experiment that she had refined time and time again before succeeding with Regulus in London during the '60s.

"My lord, it's going to be alright," Schneider said nearby as the other arcanists one by one reverted to their animal forms and piled into the suitcase: Druvis daintily padded inside as a black cat sprouting choker and hat, while Sotheby barreled in as a white ram with angel wings and a pearl necklace and X followed her inside as an albino mouse with a lanyard with APPLe close behind as the levitating fruit he was and always would be.

"Get in."

"You can't save me."

Vertin doesn't look at her. She's looking at her watch. She wished she had more time to revise the experiment. It didn't seem fair that she never knew she'd need to modify it for humans. She's still thinking about that time in the fields of that burnt out husk of a forest with the raining down on her and Schneider kneeling by her with the umbrella. She's kneeling next to her right then. "I have to try," Vertin said and this time she looked at Schneider. "Now get in."

The other girl was on the verge of tears, but she still had the energy to smirk. "If that is what my lord commands," she teased. "But please, don't be so harsh on yourself at the end of it all."

Then before Vertin on the floor was a golden insect with gossamer wings, so small, so fragile, that her hands shook at the thought of touching it lest she hurt Schneider.

"Let me help," Sonetto said sharply as she held out both her own steady hands for the golden insect to jump in. "Focus on what you need to do."

"I can't, there's not enough time." Vertin thought of that night when she watched her classmates open the door and run out into the Storm and gesture for her to join them as they turned to glass and then broke like all the pieces of a shattered kaleidoscope.

Apparently, Sonneto was thinking the same thing. "You're the Timekeeper, and you have all the time in the world," she said more softly, and while Vertin would realize later on that while it was not what she wanted to hear, it was what she needed to hear right then and there.

So Vertin cast her mind away from all the what-ifs and should-nots and resumed the incantations while Sonetto helped Schneider into the briefcase before following after the insect inside as a graceful red fox. Outside the skies roared and the day turned to dark and even as Vertin glanced outside one of the many windows from the dining room in Sotheby's estate, she was sure she could see the first droplets of moisture rising before the Storm struck the building with full force.

 

---

 

“I think I like girls,” Vertin said from her bed one day, her mind in a tangle of thoughts as she watched the rain gently patter against the window.

Lilya paused in the middle of uncapping her canteen, hesitated, and then quickly resumed unscrewing the cap before throwing her head back and taking a huge swig.

As it turned out, waking up from a two month coma was not without its own complications. It took a week before Vertin learnt how to walk again, and the doctors said it would be a month before she can move unassisted.

In that time, the other arcanists took turns watching Vertin like birds of prey looking after a nestling that had already come close to falling out of the tree. She did not return to the hospital – after what happened she dared not – and Madam Z had the Timekeeper’s own quarters modified into a makeshift clinic. An IV pole was positioned next to Vertin’s bed though she had no need for it for days now, and an intercom system had been installed in case a doctor needed to be reached.

Sitting on a stool by the Timekeeper’s bedside, Lilya waited for the burning sensation of liquor rolling down her throat to subside as she gathered her thoughts. She recalled how she crashed through Vertin’s hospital window and abducted her, and remembered that for all her poise and the way the Foundation lauded her, the Timekeeper was still young and very easily impressionable. That same stunt was also the reason why she was currently suspended from her duties and grounded from flying her beloved SU-01ве. “Are you hitting on me?” She asked.

Vertin’s eyes widened. “No, of course not,” she protested.

Lilya let out a breath. “Ok good, because watching Sonetto making eyes at you was nauseating enough, without me having to explain to her that I-“

“Sonetto does what?” The Timekeeper asked sharply.

Lilya froze. “Nothing,” she said quickly.

“You said she makes eyes at me.”

“Yes, she’s always eyeing you. She worries about you a lot.”

“That’s not what you meant.”

“Course it is. I have a thick accent.”

An edge of disapproval entered Vertin’s tone. “Lilya,” she said warningly. “I am not that easy to fool. How long has this been happening?”

Lilya muttered something unflattering in Russian as she studied the IV pole and adjusted the earflaps of her aviator hat.

“How long?” Vertin demanded.

“Couldn’t say. It's not like I was around your school all the time.”

Vertin’s face took on a pained expression. There were years of history for her to untangle, but after what had happened to her other classmates during her first exposure to the Storm, she and Sonetto had always remained friendly, but had never been quite that close that they passed the boundary into friends. Vertin was the troubled one, and Sonetto was the teacher's pet, and at that age children formed their own cliques, and so they'd been as compatible as oil and water. In many ways, Vertin assumed that her being around Sonetto would get her into trouble, and had kept her at a distance. While Sonetto had came close to check on her but always kept her at arm’s length as if afraid of catching something.

But maybe what she’d done instead was rebuff Sonetto’s advances.

Then there was Schneider. Her loss was still raw. Vertin’s had many dreams since going under. A few of them were with her. Some of them were with her. She hoped the Foundation’s instruments, for all their sophistication and the technology with the artificial somnambulism, had not recorded them and the things they’d said to each other. The things they did together.

For a while since awaking, Vertin hadn’t been sure who she should approach for assistance with this newfound knowledge. Madam Z seemed like the most logical option, but even with her helping the bill get passed, there were still some things Vertin wanted to keep close to her chest.

Druvis was another choice, but Vertin had only known her for a short while. The same could be said about Regulus, never mind the fact that the pirate probably had a different past-time in mind if she wanted to rock someone’s world.

She definitely, definitely, had no intention of telling Constantine about this.

That’s why she blurted it all out to Lilya, who she’d known for a long time and who had taken a risk in rescuing her when she had the choice of staying out of the whole matter. “It can’t be," Vertin said finally. "I would have known.”

Lilya shrugged. “I could be wrong.”

“You’re not wiggling your way out of this one.” Vertin frowned. “I guess I’m more worried as to why she has never said anything for all these years.”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Have you ever liked someone?”

The aviator scratched her chin. “Not really,” she admitted.

“How about that girl you helped hunt down those old radio parts? The one from the Stasi?”

Lilya grimaced and shook her head. “Bkorn? Hardly.”

Vertin smiled. “In any case, even if Sonetto liked me before, I think she’s probably gotten tired of waiting and moved on a long time ago.”

“Well I heard she was the one who insisted on being assigned as your partner once you became the Timekeeper.”

“Where did you hear that?”

Lilya cocked. “People talk. But I know with her grades she could have gone anywhere she wanted.”

Vertin dropped back on her pillows and covered her eyes with one arm. “I see,” she muttered. “So she picked me.” When she opened her eyes, Lilya was holding out her canteen to the Timekeeper and looking away.

"Don't give me that look," Lilya said sulkily. "Just don't tell Sonetto I said anything," she added as Vertin accepted the girl's awkward attempt at a bribe.

Vertin couldn’t help but get the last word in on the Russian ace pilot. “Only if you introduce Bkorn to me one day,” she teased. Then she laughed at the flush on Lilya’s face and lifted the canteen up as the other girl tried to snatch it back.

Notes:

Thanks for reading. Hope you had fun.

I have this headcanon that Lilya keeps an eye out for old electronic parts and radio equipment to take back to Bkornblume for the setup she has at home for her own show. Lilya always claims she finds them by accident during her flights, but she actually secretly goes out of her way to track down the stuff Bkorn needs like microphones, speakers, console and monitors parts, etc

Meanwhile, Bkorn sometimes goes on a tangent and talks about Lilya while on the radio.

One time, while using her own handheld radio to communicate with her squad from Zeno, Lilya accidentally tunes in to Bkorn's show and hears her asking for advice on what present to give to Lilya.

Chapter 2

 

"Are you sure it's alright for you to be up and about already?" Madam Z asked.

"I'm not one for idleness," Vertin replied. "I made it up here just fine."

Z and Sonetto glanced at the finely carved walking stick laid across the Timekeeper's lap.

It was morning and they were all sitting in Z's office. The Timekeeper still looked gaunt but there was a reassuring liveliness to her manner. Sonetto had gone to see her only an hour ago to find her already dressed and donning her hat.

"At least visit the doctors one more time," Z suggested. "So they can give you a clean bill of health."

"Perhaps," Vertin said in that tone Sonetto had heard her use before at school when she was lying through her teeth to her teachers. "If they're available today."

"Maybe it would be best," Sonetto chimed in. "If you could give them a call now to see if they can fit her in for today."

Z glanced at Sonetto and smiled ever so slightly as Vertin shot Sonetto a frown. Z excused herself, stood up and went to the door to instruct the receptionist to make a call to the hospital and transfer it to Z once she reached someone on the other end of the line.

Vertin leaned over towards Sonetto. Traitor, she mouthed.

Sonetto stuck her tongue out and then quickly resumed her composure as Z returned to her desk and cleared her throat. "So what was it you wished to see me about?" The scientist asked.

"I wanted to see if you had a chance to review the list of arcanists I requested to be transferred to me," Vertin answered.

Madam Z pulled out the paperwork and began leafing through them, although it became clear that she had already read them before. "Who would you like me to start with?" Z asked as she adjusted her glasses.

 

---

 

Time was transient in the Wilderness. Minutes, hours, days, years, centuries: it all passed without a frame of reference as there was no clocks to measure it and there was no sun to rise or set or the ocean's horizon.

Vertin once explained to Sonetto that the climate of the Wilderness mirrored the outside world. So as the Storm outside the Timekeeper's suitcase came in full force, so did the land inside the Wilderness go from drizzle to downpour to a deluge, the rainfall growing so thick it obscured all visibility.

Escaping from the Storm and the Chicago of 1929 was not the final obstacle. The first thing Sonetto remembered after diving into the suitcase was the cold sensation of her body lying in a large puddle of water as the rain battered her from above. With her hair and clothes clinging to her skin, she'd scrambled to her feet and staggered for cover from the weather all the while shivering, and she'd have caught hypothermia if Vertin had not found her and half carried, half dragged her to the villa.

"Did you find her, Timekeeper?" Sonetto whispered as Vertin threw the door open. It hurt to talk about her. It hurt to know that she'd beaten her to it on that scorched field and under that umbrella, Schneider's lips claiming what Sonetto had yearned for years.

"Shush," Vertin said drearily, and Sonetto hated herself for feeling some sense of relief. Which was why after she'd dried herself off and rested, she started joining Vertin as they went out to find the others. Druvis they found in another tree, the picture of grace and shading herself under the foliage much like their first meeting. Sotheby was the complete opposite, spotted wading through the fields with her skirts hiked up and garments in complete disarray. Meanwhile they returned to the villa after one fruitless expedition to find X having let himself in during their absence. How he had managed it, Sonetto never figured it out.

Speaking of fruits, APPLe had been particularly difficult to track down. They had a stroke of luck when Sotheby stuck her head inside a log on a whim and found himside.

But in the end, it was Sonetto who'd found Schiedner.

 

---

 

"Oliver Fog."

Z didn't even check her papers. "Done."

Vertin breathed in deep. "Centurion."

Z clucked her tongue. "That might be difficult," she admitted.

"Reckon you can swing it my way?"

"Her unit likes her a lot. She's a maverick but she closes cases and that's enough for them to want to hold onto her."

Vertin pondered her next choice. "Mesmer Jr."

Sonetto stirred at the mention of their former classmate who was also Vertin's guard when she under after coming back from 1929. Like Sonetto, she knew Vertin, and was part of the group of children that had Vertin had tried to lead in the escape.

Z shook her head. "I talked to her but she turned me down."

Unlike Sonetto however, Mesmer Jr. was now firmly in Constantine's camp and still blamed Vertin for how the escape from all those years ago had turned out.

The receptionist called from outside that she had the hospital on the line. Z's phone rang a few moments later.

"Timekeeper," Sonetto whispered as Z talked on the phone. "Why Mesmer?"

Vertin shook her head. "Later," she promised.

Z covered the receiver's mouthpiece. "What time works for you?" She asked Vertin.

"The earliest they have."

Z finished up the call. Vertin resumed listing names which Z checked and confirmed if they were likely to be secured or not. It was a long list, and even with the passing of the bill granting the Timekeeper her new independent squad, it was clear that very few of the other factions and departments were willing to relinquish any personnel to her besides the most troublesome individuals.

"Cristallo's undergoing treatment," Z said as they came to the end of the list. "But she told me over the phone she'd be interested. Problem is you would need to speak to her doctors to get them on board. I'm presuming she won't be joining you on field missions."

"That’s correct." Vertin hesitated. "Do you know if she's at the hospital right now?" She asked.

"She told me she'll be out in the next couple of weeks."

"You have her room number?"

Z searched her desk before finding a piece of paper and handing it over. Vertin glanced at Sonetto and winked. Sonetto's stomach fluttered.  "There's one more name I want to add," Vertin said. "Lilya."

Z raised an eyebrow at that. "The ace pilot from Zeno? The one who's always drinking on duty?"

"The very same."

"I can try."

"I'd appreciate it," Vertin said. "She was the one who broke into the hospital to get me out."

Z smiled. "I'm surprised you didn't include her at the beginning."

"She doesn't like people doing favors for her," Vertin explained. She glanced at Sonetto quickly and looked away as Sonetto blinked in confusion and wondered if she missed something. "Plus I know Zeno won't let her go easily," Vertin continued. "Ask them if there's anything I can give them in return for her."

Z nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Everyone stood up. Vertin replaced her hat over her head and adjusted the rim the tip of her walking stick. "I'll visit the doctors now," she said. "Let's go Sonetto."

"In a moment," Sonetto promised.

The Timekeeper left at a brisk pace, not even using the walking stick.  "She's faking it, isn't she?" Madam Z asked after Vertin stepped out the doorway, and Sonetto could still see it in her mind's eye from earlier that morning. The way the Timekeeper had sagged heavily onto the cane for balance halfway up a set of stairs.

"It's not quite that bad," Sonetto lied. "I found her out of bed on her own."

The older woman sighed. "I'm just worried she's being too hard on herself. Did anything happen in Chicago that I need to know about?"

"I don't think so," Sonetto said slowly. "Not that I can think of."

Z raised an eyebrow at the girl's tone. "Anything you and Vertin have left out of your field reports?" She asked.

Sonetto was saved from answering by the sound of a loud thud on the floor, followed by a walking stick clattering against the marble tiles, at which point she was sprinting out of the office.

 

---

 

By X's estimation, the pieces of crystalized metal were roughly the weight and surface area that would correspond to either a preteen girl or a petite woman. But even without the scientist's assessment, the telltale signs of a limb here, a head there and a torso a little up ahead were enough to confirm that the pieces, when rejoined, were likely once humanoid.

The pair of pistols however had survived the Storm. Caked in mud and dripping water as they were, Sonetto had no idea of they still worked.

"Do you think she felt it?" She asked as X swept the firearms up and wiped them down with his sleeve.

The boy shook his head as he pulled out and unfolded a paper bag before stowing the guns inside. "The Storm's reversal effects would have likely taken away all sensation," he explained. "By the time she'd have realized what was happening to her, the process would have already been completed."

The two of them stood in silence over the debris in the grass as the rain pounded them from above.

"She's going to be devastated," Sonetto murmured.

"This isn't the first time she's dealt with losing people to the Storm."

"No, but this one's going to hit her the hardest." Sonetto breathed in deeply. "She needs to know she's gone," she said. "That is clear. I'm just not sure she needs to see what's left."

X glanced over his shoulder. "Well you better make your mind up about it quickly," he said in a low voice. "She's coming over."

It would be a long time before Sonetto was able to unpack her thoughts and figure out why she made the decision she did.

Numbly, she turned about and walked as quickly as she could to cut off Vertin's path. "Any luck?" The other girl asked. "Did you find anything?"

"No," Sonetto lied. "Still nothing."

Vertin closed her eyes and let out a breath. "Ok then. Let's head on back for now. We'll try again when the weather's a little clearer."

Sonetto nodded. "Timekeeper," she said carefully. "The girl means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

Vertin was quiet for a while as rainwater dripped from the rim of her hat. "I almost killed her," she said, and then it all spilled out from there. "That woman from Manus had me in a trance," she explained. "I shot Schneider and I would have killed her if it weren't for a twist of fate putting her heart on the wrong side." She shuddered. "I was this close to losing her, and I promised myself I'd give her a second chance to live the life she wanted, not the life she'd fallen into, and now I might not be able to keep that promise."

She put both hands over her face and she looked so small in that moment, that Sonetto wished she could enfold her within her arms and draw them both together into the embrace of the earth.

"We'll keep trying," Sonetto promised.

Vertin rubbed her eyes. "Sonetto."

"Timekeeper?"

"When we get back and need to write our reports."

"Yes?"

Vertin let out a ragged breath. "I prefer if you didn't go into much detail about Schneider. Beyond her activities as an enforcer for Manus and helping us. If Z or anyone else were to read them, they might think I'm compromised and have me more closely supervised, or worse, they might suspend me from working in the field altogether."

Which meant Sonetto would not be able to work alone with her. "I understand," she said.

"Thank you. I realize I'm always asking you to cover for me but I-"

"It's fine," Sonetto snapped and then blinked at the hurt in Vertin's eyes. "I'm sorry," she said more softly. "I shouldn't have cut you off like that."

"That's alright."

The truth was Sonetto would always cover for Vertin. But in this one instance, she was not sure if she was sparing her own feelings or punishing Vertin's, and since she could not be angry at Vertin, she chose instead to be angry at herself.

After that conversation, they did try several more times to find Schneider, before the raining stopped completely to signal that the Storm outside was over and they'd be returning to their own timeline very soon. Then Vertin refocused her attentions towards saving the people she had managed to spirit away from the Storm, before the Foundation put her into a coma and barred Sonetto from seeing her.

It would be much longer before Sonetto and X had a chance to speak again.

 

Notes:

Was meant to be a one-shot but I guess I'm just trying to fill in some gaps for between Ch3-4 and post Ch4 and see how I go.

Chapter 3

Notes:

This is a Lilya/Bkornblume chapter. Next one will be back with Sonetto and Vertin.

 

"Earth to Lilya," Bkornblume called out over the pilot's head, strands of her hair falling over Lilya like a veil as she leaned over her. "This is HQ broadcasting on an emergency channel, please respond."

One of the first things Lilya learnt during her time at Zeno Academy was how to sleep. With everything the instructors attempted to pack into the trainee's daily schedule from dawn to dusk, whether it be tedious classes to field drills to mock exams, followed by the students retreating back to their dorms to experiment with their arcanum talent in greater detail, it was important to her and her peers that they grabbed whatever snatches of rest one could when no-one was looking.

At the end of her first year, Lilya had learnt how to nod off and go out like a light within minutes of closing her eyes. She'd sleep in the dorms, study rooms, kitchens, couches, a few times on the floor and one time she even dozed off after being accidentally locked in an equipment shed. The instructors had to send out a search party thinking she had run away.

By the time she'd graduated, she was flying off to take naps up in the trees on the Academy grounds where no one could find her, and the search parties had stopped as her teachers had recognized her as a prodigy who had learnt the rules so she could break them.

Lilya blinked her eyes open. "Wakey-wakey," Bkorn said lightly, waving a hand clad in a black glove over Lilya's face. "Someone's been staying up late," she teased.

Lilya screwed her eyes shut at the glow of the fluorescent light bulb hanging from above, before she sat up and yawned. "Hey you," she greeted. Even as the blonde pilot rubbed the grit out of her eyes, Bkorn was already offering a canteen which Lilya discovered to her dismay only contained water. "What day is it today?" Lilya asked between sips. They were in a break room in one of the Foundation's medical wards, which consisted only of a pair of couches and some stools for relatives and colleagues to sit and rot until they can be let in to see patients. 

"One of them," Bkorn joked as she took the canteen back. "You're in the future, the year is 2000, and I'm a projected 3D image recorded in case you should ever wake up."

"Very funny. How'd you find me?"

Bkorn chuckled. "Trade secrets, I'm afraid. Perks of being an agent."

"No hint?"

"Well, I might have kept in mind that you were very likely still in headquarters what with your latest aerial stunt, and from there I just asked around if someone had recently seen a blonde girl wearing medals and an aviator cap who smelt of booze on her breath." Bkorn shrugged. "The rest might have been trial and error, plus some luck."

Lilya scowled, opened her mouth and blew air out. "Smell that?" She asked as Bkorn blinked a few times in mock horror. "My breath is minty fresh."

"I stand corrected," Bkorn joked. "How goes the suspension?" Lilya swung her legs off the couch so the other girl could sit down. "You holding up alright?"

"Honestly it's not that much different than what it was when I was first assigned here," Lilya grumbled. "Only difference is now I'm not allowed to apply for any outings so I can't even go out for any breath of fresh air anymore. That's why I'm still handing out here in the therapy centre. It's quieter here and people will have a hard time finding me." Upon looking at Bkorn's crestfallen expression, Lilya quickly added. "It's not that bad. The Foundation and Zeno had to argue about who had to give me the dressing down. If it'd been Zeno, they probably would have me spend my time marking mock exam papers until I want to drink myself blind."

Bkorn took out a small tin from her bag. "I brought some sweets. Want one?"

"Sure." Lilya peered inside as Bkorn opened the tin. Inside were a dozen confectionaries nestling in folded paper lining. Each one was patterned differently with a topping of chocolate. "What are these?" She asked as she took one out.

"Marzipan."

"That's the German sweet you like, right? Didn't know you can get them around here," Lilya murmured as she studied hers closely. 

Bkorn beamed. "I couldn't, so I made some of my own."

Lilya blinked as she bit down. "Not bad," she murmured as she resisted the urge to shove the whole thing in her mouth.

"You don't like it?"

"It's good." Lilya glanced at the remaining sweets in the tin and bit her lip.

"Want another?"

Lilya puffed her cheeks out before blowing out air. "Please," she muttered as she took another. "How's radio show? You got everything you need"

"Still trying to get it up and running."

"Need some parts?"

Bkorn smiled ruefully. "More than some. I'm working on a list for when I'm next allowed to go into the city."

"Any chance you can get your department to pitch in?"

Bkorn shook her head, raising a hand to push back her silver hair. "They had to shuffle some people around recently. My new boss's a stickler for the rules and I don't think he'd be happy if he found out I was making off with Foundation equipment for my own ends."

Lilya grimaced. "Point taken."

"It's not that bad," Bkorn echoed said in an impersonation of Lilya's accent. "But seriously, I've just shelved things for now. I'll find a way to make it work, and the show's not going anywhere in the meantime."

"True." Lilya hesitated. "Bkorn?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how I mentioned that friend of mine - the one I busted out - managed to get her own team?" Bkorn nodded and Lilya pressed on. "What if I was able to get you transferred over to work with her?"

Bkorn narrowed her eyes. "She's not a radical, is she?"

Lilya made a face. "You know me, I don't do politics so I couldn't say, but I know she looks out for her own and that includes us maverick types."

"Are you joining her unit too?"

"Me?" Lilya shrugged. "Hard to say. I'm already in a bit of trouble. Plus it's easier for her and I to stay friends if she's not my boss. Friendships don't work so well when one has authority over the other."

"That's awfully cynical of you."

"A cynic would say there's no such thing as friends. I'm a realist."

Lilya cocked her head as she studied Bkorn closely. "And what does that make you, Miss Eavesdropper?" She asked wryly.

Bkorn had a good poker face, Lilya would give her that much. "Me?"

"Yes, you."

"Oh I don't know."

"Come on, you and all that cloak-and-dagger business, I reckon out of us both you're actually the cynical one. The secrets you've probably heard could topple a country."

Bkorn laughed it off. "Not really, most of the time I'm only hearing the neighbors gossiping, even if Stasi would have people jumping at every shadow thinking everyone's out to get them."

"Doesn't that make you jaded?"

Bkorn shook her head. "Not really. It's a bit of a relief."

"Really?"

"Definitely. To know that there's no evil out there after all. No diabolical mastermind plotting away. Stasi had me listening in and watching people and in the end all I really ever saw were just people being people."

Now it was Lilya's turn to shake her head. She reached out and poked Bkorn on the shoulder. "You need to go out more," she said.

"Maybe I will if you actually let me take you up on your offer to join you on your next flight."

"No can do, I'm grounded."

"Well there you have it, so am I."

They both snorted and looked away at that, the two of them sitting on that couch with the faded fabric and holes in the arm-rests, with only an arms-length separating them, waiting in that small break room for something to happen. They tensed as they heard a nurse come down the hallway pushing a trolley, one of its wheels squeaking as it struggled to align with its peers, and relaxed when the sound faded out of earshot.

"I was wondering if I could get your advice on something?" Bkorn blurted out.

Lilya glanced at her and shrugged. "Sure, what is it?"

"Say you liked someone."

"Oh boy."

Bkorn shoved Lilya by the shoulder. "I'm serious."

"That's what scares me."

"But they don't realize you like them."

"Right."

"How do you, you know, how do you clue them in?"

Lilya thought of Vertin and Sonetto, and how she so clumsily spilled the beans to the latter about the former, and couldn't decide between groaning or laughing at how she got herself into that one.

She smiled and as Bkorn stiffened, she took a deep breath before she opened her mouth.