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Her hair bounces as she walks through the fields, soft and silk down her back. She seems to find it all endearing: Jina's awkwardness, Jina's forgetfulness, the burning need within Jina to constantly work on expanding her knowledge of the world. She giggles at Jina's ridiculous jokes, even the ones about academic topics she doesn't quite understand, and she holds Jina's hand when Jina feels clumsy, and she---
Well, she's kind of perfect.
"So," Tish says, pushing her hair behind her ears. "If you could do it all over again, would you choose Kilima for your research, or would you go somewhere else?"
Jina answers maybe too quickly: "No, I'd choose Kilima every time."
"Interesting," Tish replies, a wide smile, each freckle over her nose curling upward. "I know why I love Kilima. It's peaceful. A little mysterious. Everyone's kind, or at least they try to be. My brother is here to help me out." She gives a deep inhale, a longing sigh: "I get to do my craft every day and do it for a job. It's really so wonderful." She looks right at Jina now, stares into her eyes. "What brings you back here?"
Jina chooses her next words carefully. She looks around, takes in the scenery, the mosaic of greens on the path below, the sunset-toned leaves of the trees above. She watches a sernuk a few feet away nuzzle its mate. She thinks of the human, and the miracle of their return. She thinks of Kilima in its entirety, captured miniature in a snow globe.
"Well, Kilima seems to be a hotspot for topics related to my thesis, so it was the obvious choice, but... What makes me want to stay is the people," she says, her gaze darting to the side. She pushes her glasses back up her face; they always seem to slide down when she's nervous. "Everyone is so... it's different where I come from. I've always been more of an observer than a participant. But here, even when I get lost in my research for days, there's always... a smiling face to inspire me when I step outside."
They come to a fork in the path, a thick log placed in the front like a fence. Tish stops, looks at Jina as if Jina is the only presence left in all of Kilima. As if Jina is the human----reborn.
"That's beautiful," she says. "Are you a poet as well as a scholar?"
Jina laughs. Her cadence seems to indicate that she's being entirely serious. It's the most beautiful thing that the world has ever produced.
"Oh, no," she laughs. "Just a... thinker. I think a lot about the world."
"Me too!" Tish exclaims. She turns to the path, gestures to where the singular splits off into the dual. Two clearings in front of her, one path behind. It feels oddly, terribly symbolic. Either Tish will choose a path with her, or they will part ways. "Where to now?"
Jina looks around, looks up to the skies. The clouds are beginning to blend in with the trees, yellow leaves for a yellow sky, peach rays of sun for peach-tinted branches. It's getting dark out.
"Would you... like to watch the sunset with me?" she asks. "We can sit here," she says, gesturing to the log.
"Oh, yes!" Tish squeals. "I'd love that. Maybe even the stars, too."