Ves knew it was a bad idea, and she did it anyway. Even though Orchid and Marigold hadn’t been able to spot anyone resembling Mara’s description, they’d only seen a minority of traffic at their stall. To all reports, all the survivors had been all but ready to collapse as it was. However, even if they hadn’t been able to locate Mara, they had come away with something almost as good. An order for robes had included the location the refugees were being put up in, a small inn wisely across the City from the one set aside for Homecoming guests.

Interestingly, on her way there that night, she’d noticed the lunar embassy covered in a fresh coat of vines and flowers.

She found the inn easily enough, the bark walls of the building still green with how quickly they’d been grown. It stood taller than the buildings around it by virtue of being built to bipedal tastes rather than the squat, winding buildings the aureanians preferred. Even at this hour, the building glowed brightly, lanterns serving in lieu of the softer foxfire the rest of the City preferred. It wasn’t hard for Ves to find a perch to watch from.

The first thing she noticed was the stark absence of the prince and his ‘honor guard.’ Most likely they were being housed closer to Queen Solestice, being afforded a status closer to royal dignitaries than refugees. It was probably for the best, though a wicked part of her mind lamented the fact that she surely wouldn’t catch some stolen glance of the prince undressing through a window. She firmly pushed the thought from her mind and instead focused on the traffic through the building.

Even within the confines of the City, it seemed that a watch was being maintained, a few bodies staying outside the front of the inn and watching the gently lit streets. Even safe as they ostensibly were, being chased through the dark night after night had clearly taken its toll. Those who remained outside constantly swiveled their heads, intently tracking even the most apparently innocent passerby as they slithered past. Once or twice, she spotted nervous flickers of auroral plasma around fingertips as a shape moved just a hair too quickly through the night.

After the first two hours, Ves decided she wasn’t going to learn anything like this.

Briefly checking that the black cloth she’d borrowed from Orchid was still well wrapped around both her and her tails, she started creeping around the building. Watching the guards outside, she noticed there was a gap in their vigil, the left wall of the building going unwatched as there were no windows or doors on that side. Slowly creeping between the surrounding buildings, she finally made her way to the side, and easily clambered up the knotted vines of the nearest building to perch on the roof.

She hadn’t really given it much proper thought, but ever since her transformation, she’d been significantly more athletic. Though her abilities had been thoroughly outmatched by the aureanian jungle, the fact that she’d been able to navigate at all was actually a rather dramatic escalation in her abilities. Before her transformation, she’d probably have made it a half dozen trees before dropping back into the water from exhaustion. Now, she might just be able to pull off her idea.

Taking a deep breath, she took a few steps back on the roof she’d climbed atop, then took off at a sprint. Her claws finding easy purchase on the woven bark beneath her, she threw herself into the air with a gasp, finding herself sailing through the air with all the grace she’d imagined in her mind. Tails fluttering in the wind, she hit the next roof with an instinctual flex of her legs. Claws digging into the wood, a single hand was sufficient to catch herself, the landing making little more than creak on the sturdy, springy wood beneath her.

For a moment, she sat there, perfectly frozen, but her ears didn’t detect the slightest change in the soft murmurs from the building below her. Drawing a calming breath, she carefully clambered over the roof, and down to the second story windows. A quick peek over the edge of the roof confirmed none of the guards was bothering to look up. Feeling more confident, she carefully crept down to the second story windows, peeking inside them.

The term window was actually something of a misnomer, the panes actually consisting of a thin silky mesh, fine enough to be largely see-through. Peering into the first room, she found little more than a writing desk and a few bunks, one or two occupied by sleeping figures. The next room was largely the same, except it was wholly empty. Carefully, she slipped a claw under the window, finding it free of proper latches. All it took was a tiny tug to lift it up, and she clambered inside.

The first thing that hit her was the smell. Discarded robes sat all around the room, tossed onto beds or the floor, filling the room with a scent of stale sweat and dried blood that made her wince. Gingerly, she picked one up, and gave it a sniff, immediately fighting back a gag. What had she been thinking? That she’d recognize Mara by smell? Tossing the robe back onto the floor, she took another sweep of the room. After a few seconds, all she could really say was that the refugees truly had nothing but the clothes on their backs.

She was about to leave when something caught her eye. One of the robes tossed on a bed was misshapen, its folds lying across a shape that seemed vaguely familiar. She carefully reached over and plucked it from the bed. She felt her breath catch in her throat.

It was her compass.

Disbelieving, she carefully picked up the compass, holding it as if afraid it would crumble to dust in her hands. It was impossible, unimaginable that she’d actually hold it in her hands again. She gently twisted it side to side, watching the needle sway lazily back to north each time, a soft smile starting to bloom on her face. For a moment she caught her reflection in the smooth glass, but even with her bright cerise eyes staring back, it didn’t feel like a stranger. Her expression was wholly her own.

Lost in introspection, she didn’t hear the door open.

“What the—”

Ves whipped around to find herself staring straight into Mara’s face.

The bubbling, boiling elation in her heart found itself quickly snuffed out by the blazing plasma flickering around Mara’s right hand, her left hand clutching a towel around herself. “That isn’t yo—Hey!”

Ves threw herself out the window, feet instinctively swinging out and catching her easily on the dirt of the road, carrying her smoothly into an all out run. That might have been the end of it there, had she not kept the compass clutched in her hand the entire time.

“That’s not yours!” Mara literally exploded out of the window, a gush of steam and fire chasing her out as she hurled into the open air.

The sheer shock of the sight caused Ves to stop dead. Instantly, she recognized that Mara had just been launched from a two story window into the open air. Moving without thinking, she reversed direction on the spot, and threw herself into the path of her descending friend. Arms out, she caught her with a lung-crushing impact that laid her out on the ground.

For a second, they both lay there, equally stunned. Then Mara’s hand made a grab for her face, plasma blazing on her fingers. Her own hand caught her by the wrist, only to instantly release her as that plasma lashed down the length of Mara’s arm, hot and crackling. With a shove of her arms, she quickly threw Mara off herself and scrambled away to her feet.

“Give it back!” Mara roared, throwing a wild spray of plasma off her fingers, scattering sparks that Ves reflexively jumped over.

Landing on her feet, she lifted the compass to throw it, but felt her arm lock in place. What if it broke? Even as common sense screamed at her that it had survived worse than being tossed a few feet, she found her fingers wouldn’t release it. She couldn’t, she just couldn’t.

Another gout of plasma sent her running out into the dark, followed hotly by Mara’s curses and the panicked shouts of the inn’s guards. She tried to turn a corner, only to find her feet sliding easily out from under her and she hit the ground sideways with a heavy thud. Hands sliding on a slick sheet of ice as she tried to stand, she only barely avoided a blast of flash-freezing air as she rolled to the side. Let it never be said Mara was a one trick pony.

“Would you sit still!?” Mara snarled even as Ves dug her claws in to pull herself up on the ice.

“No!” Ves shouted back. She didn’t dare throw the compass, but she hadn’t come totally unprepared. Grabbing her smart spear from where it sat coiled around her waist, she swung it towards the charging Mara, feeling the length uncoil and straighten to perfectly catch Mara in the gut with its haft. The blow was awkward, but still enough to make her crumple and stagger, instantly losing her footing on her own ice and skidding past Ves to thud bodily into the ground.

“Sorry,” Ves muttered, finally scrambling to her feet and taking down off the street she’d originally intended.

Only for the air to solidify into a wall before her face. She smacked into it full on, the thin sheet not enough to stop her, but more than enough to stun and topple her again as she crashed through it mid-stride.

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“The hells do you mean sorry?” Mara pounced atop her, clawing for the compass. “It’s not yours, whatever you are!”

“Yes it is, you stupid table!” The words escaped her mouth without thinking, and instantly total silence fell. Only one person in the world teased Mara for her lovely mahogany hair.

“You— what— that’s—” Mara released her, even scrambling away from her, but Ves no longer made any effort to get away.

“Mara! Thank—” Whatever else the pursuing guard was going to say was cut off as a wall of flash frozen air blocked him off.

“Ves?” The word came out as a soft, desperate whisper. “No, no, it can’t be you. You died back at…” Her voice cracked and she swallowed. “I told myself… I told myself they must have… But no, no that was stupid.” She barked a weak, broken laugh. “Shades don’t take heads. They just kill you. No, only… only…”

“Only reapers take heads,” Ves said, slowly pulling herself to sitting, facing Mara. “Mara, I…” What was she? Sorry? Sorry she’d survived? Sorry the moon god had saved her as the Goddess left her to die? Sorry she could see her friend alive again?

“Don’t apologize,” Mara snarled, her eyes flashing. “You can’t ever apo—”

Ves felt a spark flare in her chest. “I wasn’t going to.”

Mara blinked. “What?”

“Yes, what, Mara.” She finally pulled herself to standing. “What should I apologize for? For not dying? Or, or maybe for stealing my compass?” She waved the offending article at her.

“You betrayed the Goddess!” She wailed, as if it was a thing beyond imagining. “You were given her gift!”

“Oh, and what a gift!” Mara shot back. “Maybe you were honored to play fetch with Victoria, but personally I found the whole thing a little demeaning!”

“You…” Mara’s eyes were wide as saucers. “You knew about that?”

“The whole academy knew,” Ves said, a wave of pity washing over her. “Victoria isn’t the type to do that and keep it quiet.”

“Goddess,” She closed her eyes and shuddered, before giving her head a resolute shake. “No, no that’s not important. What’s important is—”

“That I betrayed the Goddess.” Ves started to stalk back and forth. “You know why the reaper took me, Mara? Because it was there, Mara! Where was the Goddess when the shades flooded through the gates? What good were her gifts when the whole city burned?”

“That…” She puffed up, scrambling to her own feet. “The Goddess is not responsible for the misery in our lives!”

“Then what is she responsible for?” Ves shouted back, pointing a finger right at Mara. “Name one thing other than… the right to sneer down at others?”

“She isn’t giving the right—” She scrubbed her hands over her face. “Goddess it is you, isn’t it? You never got it! I don’t even know why I’m surprised!” She barked a laugh. “I should have recognized you on the spot!”

Ves felt her tails lashing. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me.” Mara snorted, casting a jaundiced eye straight at Ves’s chest. “You always saw everything in terms of jealousy. Do you remember the ruby hairpin?”

“You knew I couldn’t afford one!” Ves shouted.

“I wore it!” She threw up her arms. “For Goddess’ sake, Ves! I put a hairpin in my hair.”

“And I took it out of your hair,” Ves said.

“Along with most of my hair!” She stormed up to Ves, almost face to face. “I had to wear my hair in a bun until it grew back out!”

“Oh, well Goddess forbid an eight year old throws a fit!” She whipped around, turning her back and simultaneously whapping Mara in the face with her tails.

“You don’t get to say that,” Mara growled.

“Say what?” It clicked in Ves’ head. “Oh, Goddess?”

“Don’t,” Mara reached through her tails and grabbed her by the hair.

“Ow!” Ves groped with her own hands, getting a hold of Mara’s hair in return. “Well Goddess damn me for taking the Goddess damned Goddess’ name in Goddess damned vain!”

“Ah ah ah! Stop it!” Mara shook her grasp on Ves’s hair even as she bent her own neck to try and avoid the pulling.

“Make me!” Ves shouted, shaking back in return.

Matters devolved from there.

----------------------------------------

“Who knew the aureanians had prisons?” Mara muttered, perched on her own prison bunk across from Ves.

“I’m surprised they’re not two feet tall,” Ves groused, slowly kicking her legs over the edge of her bunk.

“You think that says something about us?” Mara asked. “That the only prisons they need are for humans?”

“I don’t know,” Ves said. “Maybe?”

Mara sighed. “You never did go in for the bigger questions. You know, I always privately hoped you’d get it one day.” She managed a small, wry smile. “You’d walk in, one day, eyes all bright and wide and ask me to tell you about the revelations.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Ves snorted.

“I’m used to it,” Mara replied.

The two lapsed into silence for a time.

“Hey, Ves,” Mara said.

“Yeah?” Ves turned to look at her.

“I’m glad you’re still here.” She said. “Don’t you think for a minute that any of this is okay… But I’m glad for that at least.”

“Right back at you,” Ves said.

Again the two lapsed into silence.

“How long do you think they’re going to hold us?” Ves finally asked.