After exchanging a few words with Kennedy, Amanda lingered by the exterior door while everyone else filed out. Twenty-three, and in the prime of her life, Sarah's ex-partner was wearing a short, pleated skirt and had grown her hair just long enough to brush the top of her lace cardigan. When taken as a whole, the blonde thought she looked rather good; like Amanda had finally gotten her shit together after a lifetime of sustained disfunction.

Sarah almost hated to see it. There had been a cruel comfort in knowing they were peers of a sort. Fuck-up buddies, even. Now, she'd have to hang out with Hayes in order to find someone remotely on their level.

"Were you waiting for me?" Sarah asked as she shielded her face from the wind.

Amanda shuffled her feet. "Sort of, though, I feel like I'd be giving myself too much credit if I actually said so. It'd be more accurate to describe what I've been doing as silently dithering because I was too embarrassed to walk up and say hi." The flustered parasite thought about giving voice to the greeting more explicitly before letting the matter drop. "It's good to see you, Sarah."

"It's good to see you too," Sarah echoed stiltedly. "I... like your outfit. It's very wholesome."

Amanda twisted her upper body around to better show it off. "Thanks, I worked pretty hard on making sure all of the colors matched. I'm not super used to the whole fashion scene, so I was worried it'd come off kind of frumpy."

"No," Sarah reassured her. "It looks good. Very... you." The compliment sat heavy on her tongue. There was a fine line between being supportive and being flirty, and Sarah was worried that she was dancing along the edge. "How's Pallsburg?" she asked in the hope of resettling herself. "I didn't see her car when I drove up."

"Julie's great," Amanda replied with an edge of nervous enthusiasm. "We're great. Recent events have been a strain, but I'd like to think I've learned from Jason's poor example - mean as that may be to say." Amanda's fingers toyed with the purple bangle dangling from her wrist. "Anyway, I suppose that segways nicely into to why I wanted to talk to you. I was hoping we could clear the air, so to speak."

Sarah tried not to wince at the pronouncement. "Is this about our breakup or my reaction afterwards?"

"The latter," Amanda clarified. "I get why things didn't work out, and it's not the sort of objection I'd hold against you. With that being said? As shitty as you made me feel, it was worse when you cut me off. There was more to our relationship than just casual sex."

Was there? Sarah had certainly thought so at the time, but she'd never been the best judge of character. In truth, after three years, all she could remember were the moments of carnal passion. The sensation of Amanda's hands cupping her breasts had been seared into her brain; the quiet cuddling the two had engaged in afterwards seemed more like a pleasant mirage. "I felt like we needed a clean break," Sarah tried to explain. "My wordless pining was never going to be good for either of our mental health."

Amanda sighed at the flimsy excuse. "And in retrospect?" she asked. "How did that work out?"

Poorly, but Sarah couldn't bring herself to admit as much. "Maybe I should be the one to ask you; I feel like I'm talking to a whole new person. You can't tell me you're unsatisfied if you're standing here cute as a button." Amanda's face flushed at the unexpected praise. "Are you finished with the surgeries you had planned, or are there a few more that you still need to schedule?"

"No, this is it," Amanda confirmed. "The real me. It took a while, but I've finally gotten my body to look the way I want." She held her host out like she was bracing for a blow.

Sarah considered the apprehension wasted effort. "Congratulations. I know how much your appearance was bothering you."

Amanda slumped, her posture visibly relieved. "Thanks. Your support means a lot. I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but your reaction was one of the few things I regret when I began my transition. Hearing you wish me well makes me think that I can close the book on that chapter of my life."

"Is that so? Well, you're welcome, I guess. I'm sorry about the way I acted, and I'm glad I could finally help." A moment passed in which Sarah was struck slightly dumb. Eventually, she cleared her throat and motioned towards the trees. "So... is that it? We're good now? We've cleared the air, and I'll see you when Kennedy calls?" It was hard to not sound faintly bitter. Sarah tried for Amanda's sake, but she was worried her ex could tell.

The mousy parasite surprised her by quietly shaking her head. "No. Or rather, I can leave if I'm making you uncomfortable. I don't want to hold you hostage via our history of romantic baggage. It's just... I thought the coming days would be hard enough without having to deal with our relationship on top of everything else. O'neal may have been willing to let bygones be bygones, but I'm not willing to take the kids at their word. Besides, neither Townsend nor Barkley promised shit." Amanda's expression darkened as she recalled what the two had been up to. "I'm worried about you, Sarah," she whispered. "This is a bad time to be alone."

Amanda said it like there was ever a good one - as if the loneliness gripping Sarah's heart hadn't been the splenetic default of their species' monstrous existence. "I'm not moving in with you if that's what you're asking. I have nightmares that begin like this, and they end with one of my co-workers trying to convince me to suck off my boss."

The dainty warspawn pursed her lips. "Danielle and Paul, right? Are they still bothering you? I thought you quit working for Amtrak."

Sarah wriggled her wrist. "Cook likes to get drunk every couple of months and call me a whore on Twitter. I try not to take it personally."

Amanda stepped closer as if to give Sarah a hug. She halted in the grass before she could follow through on the gesture, uncertain whether it'd be appreciated. "I'm sorry to hear that. You shouldn't have to deal with her."

Amanda was too kind for her own good; the boy Sarah had dated in high school would have agreed with the bitch and claimed he'd dodged a bullet. "It is what it is," she said, recalling his habitual sneer. "I'd rather talk about whatever you were hinting at earlier."

Her ex frowned. Amanda buried her hands in the pockets of her beige cardigan, so no one could see her fidget. "How do you feel about tapping a mana field with Juliette and I. If Townsend is going to be wandering around, killing off his close relations, then you should have another way to defend yourself."

Sarah suppressed the wave of bemusement, which followed on the heels of her offer. Amanda had never expressed much interest in the Light, when they'd been dating, and she'd always seemed like she'd favor the Loom if given half a chance. It was strange to hear her make such a suggestion when they were supposed to be plotting its downfall. Or was that the crux of the problem? Neither of them were exactly spoiled for choice, and the Light was both available and convenient. There was a reason why the nobility had gone so far as to encourage its use among their subordinates.

"Aren't you worried about the toxic build up?" Sarah asked her carefully. "I figured that having another thing wrong with your host would be likely to trigger your dysphoria."

Amanda waved her concern away. "I suppose I've gotten a taste for self-improvement. Besides, Julie can't afford to bide her time until a different Network shows up."

No, she couldn't, could she. The Offal Sea had a lot of data on how various civilizations handled the integration, and one of the running themes was a re-organization of the old order. Even when the upper-class managed to hold onto their power, it was usually a violent interregnum. The first-mover advantage could be a real safety net, no matter how Pallsburg wanted to proceed. Hell, if Sarah had been born on this planet, she might have been right there beside her; it was hard to say no to easy answers, and the Network had an incentive to dominate the local market. There were going to be a lot of quick gains in the coming days. Deeper development would prove costly, since it'd be more expensive for the Light of the World; however, the same could be said of any business. It also wouldn't affect anyone on Earth until at least the twenty-thirties.

You know, provided they were human. Sarah was a bit more delicate. "I don't know how comfortable I am with poisoning myself on purpose. Ideally, you'd want to find a density in the area of zero point two with a purity above fifteen percent. Depending on how the mana's aligned, we could be suffering from side-effects at half that much throughput."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Only if we were out in the open," Amanda denied. "Why, were you planning on popping out? Maybe going for a squirm through the brush?"

Sarah shivered. No, of course not. The only people who were comfortable leaving their host were a few of the psychopaths from the Fourth Wave. For Sarah and her peers, the birthing pools of Deravan were too far in the past to risk taking a dip. Gliding through the water with her progenitor had long since ceased to feel natural.

"It's still a risk," Sarah insisted weakly. "The nobility can make all the claims they want, they won't be the ones endangering their lives. Do you even remember what the penetration chart stipulated? I sure don't. I'm pretty sure our superiors expected us to figure it out via trial and fucking error."

Amanda blinked, non-plussed. "For human flesh, it's a thirty percent loss per cubic inch. Don't ask me to describe the math, it's been too long since I've had to convert the units."

Sarah scowled. She fished out her phone and plugged the numbers into the calculator app on her home screen. After a minute, it informed her that a basic construct would reach parity with the environment at just shy of two feet. If Sarah built her foundation near her groin, she might be okay; someone Amanda's size would have to get more creative. "You're going to kill yourself. You realize that, right?"

Amanda crossed her arms beneath her breasts. "Stop acting like this is nuclear physics; mana has more in common with the heating element in my stove. If I screw up, the worst I'll get is a couple of burns. At that point, I'll just eject whatever I'm working on and wait for my fins to heal."

She said it so easily, like the thought of damaging her coils didn't make her head feel thick and her heart start to race. Personally, Sarah couldn't picture what her real body was doing without causing a wave of nausea to climb up her throat. If she reached out with her tendrils and actually felt along her host's spine, she'd have to take a seat on a nearby bench before her dumb ass collapsed in the dirt. "Please don't be so flippant with your health. There's a very low ceiling to what we're able to endure, and I'm worried you're going to crack your skull open while trying to bust through the glass."

Amanda took a deep breath before slowly letting it out. "Fine. You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be dismissive when your anxiety is coming from a considerate place. There are some real issues with my plan, and the nobles are banking on the Offal Sea being able to bridge the gap. If we're not going to play their game, then we won't have access to the same resources as the rest of the invasion. But, Sarah," she continued quietly. "You don't get to stand there and act like it's impossible just because it's an uphill battle. We both know this will work."

"I can't convince you otherwise?" Amanda mutely shook her head. "Then, we'll try things your way. I'm reserving the right to say, 'I told you so,' though, if it blows up in our face."

"I can live with that," Amanda graciously agreed. "Do you want to head out now? Julie and I were planning to make a day of it."

Want was too strong a word to describe Sarah's feelings on the matter. It was more like she had resigned herself to seeing this disaster through. Regardless, she motioned towards the dusty path, and a moment of awkward silence settled between them as they retraced their steps through the park.

There was a tendency among humans to walk away from one another after the conclusion of an argument. Warspawn were the opposite, in the sense that they'd been designed to seek out conflict, instead. Both parasites had been on Earth long enough to assimilate its cultural mores, though; this meant neither of them were exactly put out when the parking lot came into sight.

Pallsburg was waiting for her girlfriend by the door of Amanda's Ford. Normally, the brunette was a boisterous woman with bright eyes and an easy expression. Today, little of her manic energy was on display as she clutched at the elbow of her faded, jean jacket. The radio was playing in the car; Pallsburg leaned in through the passenger-side window and calmly turned it off. "Hey, sweetie," she called out with a burst of artificial cheer. "Did you have a rough walk?"

"Mmm, it was exhausting. I ran into a bunch of kids, and one of them made a mess. At least, I won't be the unlucky babysitter who has to clean it up." Amanda paused by the edge of the curb and exchanged a brief hug with her girlfriend. "Oh," she then exclaimed. "I don't think you two have ever been formally introduced. Sarah - meet Juliette. Juliette, this is Sarah." Amanda gestured back and forth between them until her hands settled closer to the brunette. "I think I've told you about her. It was after you took me out to Ruth Chris once we started getting serious."

"Ah," Pallsburg drawled, subtly tensing up. "'The ex.'"

Oh, so Sarah wasn't the only one who referred to people like that? Pallsburg's churlishness made the infiltrator feel better about how she'd been labeling Amanda in her head. Less... childishly petulant.

"Your partner invited me to join you on your outing," she explained a little warily. "I hope it's not a bother." 'Please let it be a bother,' Sarah's eyes practically begged. She had never aspired to be a homewrecker, but she'd start a screaming cat fight if that was what it took to call off this whole affair.

Unfortunately, Pallsburg merely nodded along after a moment of thought. "Sure," she reassured her with insultingly amiable self-confidence. "Amanda tells me you have a lot of experience."

No more than any other infiltrator on Earth, but there was something to be said for even a slapdash education. "Please don't get your hopes up. I'm really not that impressive." Sarah turned towards her ex. "Speaking of which, did you have a place in mind, or is our destination a work in progress?"

"The former; I already did most of the legwork." Amanda ducked into her C-Max and retrieved a map from the glove compartment. When she unfolded the piece of paper atop the car's hood, Sarah could see several lines of notation penned between the margins. It looked like Amanda had canvassed half the city. Most of her attention had been on the upper east side, but there were pips scattered around Dorchester and Hyde Park as well.

"I tried to stick to the coast to take advantage of the nascent ley lines. If we're lucky, the currents will be quick enough to allow for proper clumping." Her finger moved south. "Alternatively, we can head towards one of the reservations and hope the purity there is a little higher. A lot of them have avoided industrialization, so the mana should be more homogeneous. I guess it depends on what you're looking for." Amanada looked up from her map. "Are you particular about where we head? I know I dragged you into this out of the blue. It might be unreasonable to expect you to have a preference."

Sarah was still trying to puzzle out Amanda's penmanship, so she decided to deflect the question. "It sounds to me like you've narrowed it down pretty well. How long have you been planning this?"

"Broadly speaking? About a year or two. It seemed like it'd be pertinent with the way our relationship was headed." Amanda smiled at her girlfriend and intertwined their fingers. "Anyway, there's a couple of decent options. I'm also open to suggestions."

Traditionally, the three of them should head towards the coast. On Lexifer, the Tellim began their service to the Light by practicing a technique known as [From Sea to Shore]. It was a modular skill, which the hairless cats could alter and improve as they developed their arcane abilities. At its most basic level, it served to keep their bodies cool from the large F-class star bearing down on the Central Desert. Once you had enough practice, though, you could also use it to insulate your flesh from the side-effects of your own mana. Given the level of sensitivity the two would be struggling with, it was a really solid choice.

The only problem? It was also a technique that the nobles had instructed them to master. Beyond the danger of running into one of her peers, there was something undeniably foul about acquiescing to their command. If Sarah was going to be consorting with a bunch of rebels, then she should have the opportunity to spit in her old boss' eye. She'd certainly dreamt about doing so often enough during her training.

Sarah could still recall the way Harlan had decimated her section in the name of reflected glory. Any infiltrator who couldn't swim from the shallows of the Green Sea to the tip of Jeel's Peak, got precisely two weeks to fix their shit, then - ready or not - he'd release a pair of Predators into the ocean to pursue them up onto shore. If they made it, great. If not, then the bulky commandos would tear the trainee apart and haul their lifeless body away for processing.

Sarah's cohort had lost over thirty members before they'd realized that this was Harlan's solution to everything. In the weeks that followed, they'd lost twenty more hoping his actions would draw censure from command. The final thirteen had died because they'd failed to meet his standards or had self-terminated out of spite. The worst part had been when they'd been shipped reinforcements a few months before graduation; clearly someone had known what he was up to and had officially approved of the winnowing.

"Any field we find downtown will have a harsh alignment," Sarah muttered after shaking off the grim recollection. "Both 'Metal' and 'Lightning' mana tend to be rough on the body while the more esoteric elements, like 'Law' and 'Commerce,' are difficult to find at a high enough concentration. To make matters worse, all four of them are hard to work with for beginners. If you're serious about wanting me to weigh in, then I vote for one of the reservations."

"Julie?" Amanda asked before turning towards the brunette. "How about you? You're likely to go farther with the Light than either Sarah or myself: what kind of bender would you like to be?"

The woman laughed. "I always preferred Zuko, but shooting fireballs is the sort of superpower that only seems fun until you accidentally set your apartment alight. How about I go with something that won't leave us homeless." Pallsburg studied the asphalt and then snapped her fingers a couple of times. "Who was that one woman who could desiccate plants? The one who tried to teach Katara bloodbending?"

"Hama?" Amanda asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, her, I want to be able to do that. Only, you know, without the gore and the mind control."

Sarah wasn't quite certain she knew who the couple was talking about. She'd never shared Amanda's love for cartoons, and her predisposition hadn't improved after the two of them had broken up. For the younger warspawn, waking up at six a.m. on a Saturday morning had been a way to recapture the childhood they'd been denied. Sarah, on the other hand, had found the early hour exhausting. Piecing together a fictional culture on top of that had felt like choking herself as a hobby.

"In that case, I think we have a winner. I can accomplish what I want anywhere, provided the density isn't too low." Amanda leaned on the hood of her car and dragged her nail across the map. She skipped every site that couldn't produce at least six motes an hour until she settled on a field near Milton. "How about we try the Blue Hills? I bet one of their hiking trails will be perfect for our needs."