The room was quiet, but not peaceful.
Aira stood near the window, arms folded, watching the city below as if she could force it to make sense. The patterns were there—she knew they were. Every movement, every outcome, every cause and effect… it all should align.
But lately, it didn't.
Behind her, Nysa sat cross-legged on the floor, idly tracing faint lines of chalk against the stone. The markings overlapped, curved, and broke apart—messy, unfinished.
"Your lines are wrong," Aira said without turning.
Nysa didn't look up. "They're not meant to be right."
Aira exhaled sharply and turned. "Everything is meant to be right. That's how the world works. There's always a reason, a structure—something you can follow."
"And what happens," Nysa asked softly, "when there isn't?"
Aira hesitated.
"There is always something," she insisted, though her voice had lost a fraction of its certainty.
Nysa finally lifted her gaze, her expression calm but unyielding. "That's the difference between us. You need the world to make sense."
"And you don't?" Aira shot back.
Nysa smiled faintly. "I don't need it to behave."
The words settled heavily between them.
Aira looked back out the window. Somewhere below, a shout of laughter echoed, followed by the clatter of something falling—then silence.
Unpredictable.
Uncontrolled.
Wrong.
"If everything is left to chance," Aira said quietly, "then nothing means anything."
Nysa rose to her feet, brushing chalk dust from her hands. "Or," she said, stepping closer, "it means everything does."
Aira turned, frowning. "That doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't have to," Nysa replied. "Meaning isn't always found in order. Sometimes… it's in what we choose to do when there isn't any."
Aira searched her sister's face, looking for doubt.
There was none.
Only quiet certainty.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Aira looked down at the faint chalk lines scattered across the floor—imperfect, broken, yet somehow… intentional.
"I still think you're wrong," she muttered.
Nysa's smile softened. "I know."
But she didn't erase the lines.
And Aira didn't ask her to.