Rain stopped a few paces away, her gaze dropping to Cecilia's bracelet.
"Got enough pictures?"
"For now."
Cecilia lowered her wrist, and the screen faded.
Rain grinned and backed toward the center, leaving Cecilia to follow.
"Just this once."
"I heard you."
"Just making sure."
Cecilia slid into the open space. The music kept playing around her, a few voices rising above it before settling again.
Rain slid the blade back into its sheath and held it at her side.
"I'll keep it like this. That way, when you lose, you can't say I bullied you."
"...Heh."
"What?"
"You really don't know when to stop, do you?"
"Nope."
A strange weight gathered behind Cecilia's eyes, the noise of the audience fading into static.
"Last chance."
Rain lifted the sheathed blade, its tip pointed at Cecilia's chest.
step.
step.
step.
Cecilia took another step, and the loose strands of Rain's blue hair began to cling lightly to her forehead.
step.
Sweat.
A thin shine gathered across Rain's hairline, then along the side of her neck.
The air between them started to bend in faint, uneven waves.
Hot.
The hand around the sheath tightened, her knuckles turning pale.
step.
Cecilia lifted a hand and rested it on Rain's head, ruffling the damp hair.
Rain stared up at her, sweat running down her cheek.
shhk—THMP!
Rain lay flat on her back, blinking at the sky, the blade gripped in her hand.
For a second, she did nothing, a snail shriveling in the sun.
shhk!
Sharp lines carved themselves beneath Rain's sprawled form, forming a pattern.
tckk...kkk—tchkk!
A heavy haze surged upward.
Rain twisted off the ground and sprang back up a few feet away, her boots digging into the earth as her gaze snapped downward.
What had been loose grains only a second ago darkened, screaming as the air brushed against them.
Jagged shapes forced themselves upward from the ground in crooked bursts—half-formed blades of blackened grit, all angled toward where her legs had been.
More.
A line snapped up from the ground.
"Hey—! That's cheating!"
Rain swept her scabbard low.
Crk—tshhh!
The jagged points shattered under her blow, their fragments glowing orange as they scattered across the clearing.
Rain's boots carved hard into the sand while she backed away, the glowing grains snapping and hissing around her feet.
Tchk!
And more.
Until the blackened mass burst into a haze of shimmering static that lunged at Rain.
fwhp!
Rain's face tightened before she brought both hands up, turning the sheathed blade sideways as a makeshift shield.
The static washed over her in a rough wave, the grains dragging across the scabbard in jittering bands of black, brown and orange. Her silhouette splintered at the edges, blurring until she looked like something else entirely.
Cecilia followed right behind it, looking past the haze and into Rain's glazed eyes.
Her own face stared back through the shimmer.
Cecilia's hand slipped through the static and caught the mouth of the sheath.
Krrrk…kch.
The scabbard trembled between them, caught in both their hands while the haze dragged over their clothes. Rain's grip tightened, the muscles in her forearm standing out as she tried to pull back.
Sweat ran down the side of Rain's face in rivulets, gathering beneath her eyes before slipping past her jaw and dripping into the sand.
The whites around her gold irises reddened little by little.
Rain pulled again, harder this time, her boots digging shallow trenches through the sand.
The tendons in her neck stood out for a second before the scabbard jerked halfway free, only to stop again when Cecilia's fingers tightened near the mouth of the sheath.
Rain's gaze lifted, centimeter by centimeter, like she was staring at something that had grown taller with every second.
KCH—!
The sheath tore out of Cecilia's hand.
Rain stumbled back half a step, dragging in labored breaths while the tip carved into the shifting sand.
Sweat washed over her face, darkening the strands of blue hair stuck to her skin. Beyond her, someone climbed down from a hood.
snffk…
The inside of Cecilia's nose burned with each breath. Little pinpricks crawled across her arms, her neck, the backs of her hands, growing sharper all at once.
Like kernels bursting open.
The edges of Cecilia's vision narrowed.
The sound around her dulled until everything turned white.
The land behind Rain stretched thin and far away, like it had been shoved behind glass.
"..."
The white light swallowing the dark suddenly spat everything back out. The world lurched backward in one violent motion, as though Terra itself had been ripped out from under her.
A voice cut through, faint.
One more time.
"...?"
Cecilia blinked.
For a second, the screen above her bracelet stretched across her vision, its darkened surface layered in a sheet of water.
Damp strands stuck to Cecilia's cheeks as she lowered her wrist, the screen fading with it.
Steam clung to the cramped room, curling along the mirror and walls in soft, uneven layers.
tpk…
tpk…
tpk…
Her thoughts slid down the mirror, and herself.
Cecilia's mouth tightened.
...One round, she says. And my dumb ass went along with it. Haa...I'm too old for this shit.
She sighed and flexed her fingers. The skin across her knuckles still prickled when she slid the door open.
"Why isn't this thing working..."
Ikade tapped at her phone, her ears twitching in irritation.
"What're you doing?"
"Uah—!"
Ikade jolted, sending her phone flying somewhere behind her. She shot to her feet, slipped and ate the floor.
Ikade slowly turned her head and looked up at Cecilia.
Her nose had gone red before she pressed a hand over it.
"...nothing?"
"Anyway…" Ikade pushed herself up onto her elbows, pretending none of that happened. "You didn't go and do something you weren't supposed to, did you?"
"You make it sound like I can't be left alone."
Cecilia stepped past her.
"I just asked, Cece."
She opened the closet and took out a loose, long-sleeved button-up and a washed denim skirt.
While she straightened her collar, Ikade came up behind her. A hand brushed her shoulder before resting there.
"—!"
Cecilia's shoulders jumped.
Ikade's hands found her shoulders a second later, pressing into the tight muscles.
"Then stand still for a second."
Ikade leaned against her back, her chin brushing Cecilia's head while her fingers worked at the base of her neck.
Her lips grazed the fabric once.
Twice.
A faint warmth crept into her ears, hot enough to make the faint lines beneath her eyes deepen even more.
"Oh? What's this?" Her voice softened, teasing. "You're actually embarrassed."
"Can you stop...breathing on my ear like that..."
Ikade hummed like she had not heard a word.
Her fingers worked lower, gliding from Cecilia's shoulders to her upper arms, then farther down—past her elbows, to her wrists, and finally to her hands.
Cecilia tilted her head, her hair slipping across her cheek. She watched the hands move over hers, Ikade's fingertips tracing carefully around the ugliness along her skin.
Slowly.
Gently.
Molding the ache into something warmer.
The dark brown protrusions caught the light in dull glints, like sunlight slipping through a window.
"..."
Strands of white hair danced forward, forming little patterns over the hand kneading hers.
fwumph—!
The room tilted.
Cecilia stumbled back a step, then another, before the backs of her knees hit the bed and the two of them dropped onto it.
Above them, the skylight cut the ceiling open, and the clouds took over.
Her gaze lowered.
And she was already outside, walking.
Her steps left shallow depressions in the ground. The dry wind brushed against her skirt, carrying the scent of dust, cooked oil, and something else under it.
Step...step...
Beside her, Ikade wandered from one topic to another.
Every now and then, Cecilia answered.
In between, a few people greeted them.
Vehicles lined the stretch ahead, the make-believe streets of the caravan still busy with movement.
Ahead, the pitiful medical truck stood where Cecilia had last seen it, its cargo body painted a red that was too bright, with a single faded yellow stripe cutting across the cabin and through both passenger-side doors.
Its black awning shaded a folding table and two chairs, both occupied by an older couple.
Ikade's ears perked at once.
"Oh! Hello again!"
Ikade's voice carried across the short distance, bright enough to pull both Cecilia's eyes and the couple's.
"Well now." The woman said, looking up from beneath the awning. "Look who came back."
Ikade smiled and took Cecilia's hand, drawing her closer.
"You wouldn't mind if we bothered you a little, right?"
The woman had a sun hat propped on her lap. Beside her, the man leaned back in his chair with his own hat covering his eyes.
Both of them were of Ikade's kin.
"A little bothering is about all we have left."
"Alright then! Is this your tr—" She paused, one ear flicking. "...well, obviously it is. You're sitting under it. Uhh...never mind."
The older woman just smiled.
Ikade looked away for a second, coughed into her fist, then recovered almost immediately and pulled out her phone.
Cecilia took a few steps closer to the truck, moving out of the way before settling against its body. She watched Ikade turn the desert green around her with nothing but a camera and too much enthusiasm.
"Right. Starting over."
Ikade lifted her phone like a microphone and pointed it toward them with complete seriousness.
"Hello, honored doctors resting beneath their very obvious truck. Can I ask you two a few questions?"
The woman raised a hand to cover her mouth while the man beside her let out a low breath that might have been a laugh.
"Honored?" the woman said. "Honored might be a stretch nowadays."
Ikade's tail flicked behind her.
"Perfect. First question. Why don't we introduce ourselves for your future fans?"
"Marisol. And this is my husband, Lewis."
"So..." Ikade tilted her head. "Were you both doctors when you met?"
Marisol glanced at Lewis. It was brief, but Cecilia caught the small smile they shared.
"No." Lewis answered. "I was doing a residency in Manhattes while volunteering for a little bit, we met because she was doing an internship as a veterinarian."
Manhattes...that's where we first met.
Ikade blinked.
"A veterinarian?"
Marisol smiled, her greying purple hair swayed with the wind.
"Yes." Marisol smiled, the wind stirring her greying purple hair. "Not quite what you expected?"
"I just thought...well, with the medical truck..."
"That was a long time ago. We've both learned a few things since then."
"We were busy. Stubborn." Marisol glanced at him. "But we kept finding time for each other."
"Eventually, we moved in together. Stayed in Manhattes a couple more years before going to Fiesta."
"What took you there?"
"Curiosity, mostly." Lewis said. "We wanted to see somewhere other than Manhattes."
"We'd talk about leaving, but there was always someone we wanted to see through first."
"Afterward, we kept jumping from one place to another." Marisol continued. "Helped where we could. Traveled with different groups until we joined this one."
Lewis nodded toward the truck. "Having people around makes keeping this thing running a little easier."
"And they keep us busy." Marisol smoothed the brim over her knee.
Marisol turned the hat in her lap.
"If someone watches this years from now, what would you want them to remember about you two?"
"That we tried." Marisol said softly. "Don't concede your dreams....and keep pushing."
Ikade stood there for a second, fumbling for the right words.
Then—
Then.
"Alright!"
She declared it like she had just saved the interview from falling apart.
"That wraps up today's very first, incredibly professional, historic interview for..."
Her whole face lit up.
"Surviving Terra!"
"No—wait, wait..."
Ikade straightened herself before lifting the phone higher into the air, quickly turning it around to pull herself into the frame.
"Somewhere Along the Way! With Doctor Marisol and Doctor Lewis. Our very first guests!"
"First ever, huh?" Lewis muttered, his eyes casting down with a small smile on his face.
"Mmhm." Ikade nodded, completely serious. "So if this gets famous later, just remember I was here first."
Cecilia watched her from against the truck.
For a second, the desert almost looked green.
Ikade gave them both a cheerful little bow before backing away, nearly bumping into someone.
"Ah—sorry!"
She slipped around them, then pointed Cecilia toward another gathering farther down.
Cecilia finally pushed herself off the truck and stepped away.
She had barely taken more than two steps before Marisol's voice reached her.
"You look like you have a lot on your mind."
Ahead of them, Ikade had already wandered farther in, chatting with another small group, her hands tucked behind her back while her tail flicked from side to side.
Cecilia turned her head slightly.
Beside Marisol, Lewis lifted his hat just enough to look at her.
"...Do I?"
The caravan kept moving around them, voices folding themselves into the whispers of the wind.
"I think it's admirable."
"..."
"What you two chose to do. Living like this. Helping people who probably can't pay you back. I respect that."
She faced them and spread her arms lightly apart, opening her palms to them.
"But don't misunderstand."
Her hands lowered.
"I don't need a lesson. I don't need someone to tell me what I should be doing, where I should go, or what kind of person I'm supposed to become."
"And you'll have to forgive me if that sounded blunt."
"Thank you for talking to her."