Nina had already tuned out before Hala and Cross expressed their apologies. Patiently waiting with a thin smile until they left, Trim examined Nina’s dead expression as she guided her back into the office and up the stairs. Sinking into the sofa, Nina looked at the ceiling as she exhaled in resignation.

“This is bad,” Trim sighed as she dropped the page onto the table. “It will be hard for them to find you, but you’ll have to be on your toes for a while.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

Trim dropped on the couch beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Reina will work something out, don’t worry. It will disappear once they realise that they can’t find you.”

“Who can’t find you?”

Nina and Trim both paused as Saela appeared at the top of the hallway. With a mess of blonde hair hanging over her tired eyes, she looked as though she had just crawled out of bed. She wore a black sweater and ripped jeans, a look which reflected the scowl that was on her face. Nina watched as her eyes flicked over to the coffee table. As dazed as she seemed, Saela was the last person that she wanted to see right now. Well, second last after a suit.

Walking over, Saela grabbed the copy of the poster from the coffee table before taking a glance. After reading it, she dropped it back on the table with a sigh.

“This is great, just great,” she said as she looked at Trim while pointing at Nina. “She’s been here for what, not even a fortnight? And look what happens, we have SuTSU combing the entire city for a trail that leads right up to our door.”

“You know that this isn’t Nina’s fault,” Trim growled as she stood up, rising a full head over Saela as she stared down at her. “Reina decided to pick her up, Reina brought her here, and Reina sent her to KF-14. Stop twisting things to suit your agenda.”

“If she wasn’t here, then we wouldn’t have this problem,” Saela retorted. “I said before she joined that it was a bad idea, and I was right.”

The comment stung. Having an issue with her was fine, but saying that her being part of the group was a bad idea? They hadn’t even said anything to each other from when they had met to when Nina had left for the night. By the time Saela answered the bell the next morning, she already seemed to have had a problem. How could she form such a strong opinion over nothing?

“Enough,” Reina said as she appeared at the top of the stairs. Svanda followed behind her with a wry smile pointed in Nina’s direction as Reina sat on the couch opposite Trim. Picking up the paper, she scanned it quickly before passing it over her shoulder to Svanda who stood behind her.

“See? I told you,” Saela smirked. Nina could almost sense the smugness that crept into her voice like a child that enjoyed seeing others punished. Punching her in the face would probably make her feel better, but it certainly wasn’t appropriate. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how to throw a proper punch either. Maybe a nice and crisp slap would suffice? The urge to make a comment on her courtyard habits also arose, but she quickly pushed it down with the other urges. Acting on any of her thoughts would bring nothing but trouble, and she certainly hadn’t forgotten that Saela was armed.

“I said enough,” Reina cut her down with a glare. “This isn’t the time, and it’s not Nina’s fault either. Making a fuss here does nothing but criticize my judgement.”

Saela glared at Nina once more as a parting shot before heading for the stairs with an angry pout on her face. The rest of the group listened in an awkward silence as the door below them opened and closed as she left the office. Nina felt uncomfortable when Saela was around, as though she was intruding in someone else’s home even though this was her home too. She had thought about how to fix the issue, but couldn’t come up with any ideas. They didn’t have to be friends, but she couldn’t continue like this either. She had sighed in relief that Saela was gone, but this was just the beginning

“Wish I had one of these,” Svanda broke the silence as she dropped the wanted poster back into Reina’s lap. “I’d frame it.”

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“They could even give you a cool nickname,” Trim laughed as she looked at Svanda. “How about Steel Svanda?”

“Steel?”

“It would match your hair!”

“Probably match the strength of your muscles too,” Reina added as everyone but Nina laughed. She smiled and glanced at the page again before dropping it onto the coffee table. “Don’t worry Nina, this isn’t a problem.”

“How can you say that this isn’t a problem?” Nina asked as she fought not only to control her voice, but also to look Reina in the eye. She was angry because Reina was correct that this wasn’t her fault, and she didn’t even seem to be taking the situation seriously. She was upset because she was uncomfortable because she felt powerless with where current events were taking her. Above all else, however, she was afraid. She thought that she had found some stability in this crazy place over the last few days but yet again the rug was being pulled out from under her feet. What small inroads she had made were still there, but the mountain in front of her had just become that much bigger.

She looked at her picture on the poster, her black suit and a blank expression. She even remembered when it had been taken, sitting in a featureless grey room in her old workplace. She had just been a number that was a nameless cog in a greater machine, a thankless task. People rarely bother looking at the inner workings of a machine unless something is broken, but that was fine by her. Although it was thankless, a cog turned in a reliable routine and more importantly, it fit in snugly with the surrounding pieces. A cog was interchangeable, but she had worked hard to put herself in a position where it would have been difficult. Had someone filled her old role already?

She understood that the group was trying to cheer her up, but there was only so much that words of reassurance could do. If she was going to truly feel confident, she would need to see evidence or at least a feasible plan. Sticking her away in her room for a few months wouldn’t be enough. There were people out there, people that she had interacted with, that would maybe be able to point SuTSU in the right direction. Most would pretend that they hadn’t seen anything, but she knew that money talked and all they needed was one person to spill the beans. Even if they didn’t know where The Cloud Orchestra was, friends who stood out like Reina and Svanda were people that they would be able to point to instead. The trail was there, and unless all the different bits and pieces involved managed to disappear at the same time, she couldn’t see how the issue could be confidently resolved.

“It’s not a problem because SuTSU won’t find us,” Reina replied with a casual wave of her hand. She looked over her shoulder to Svanda and asked for a cup of tea before refocusing. “SuTSU can issue thousands of wanted records at a time. I’ll admit that you’re on a different level from the killers on the red floors, but so much noise means that it’s a wide casting net and they often don’t have much to show for it.”

Nina rejected Svanda’s offer for tea while thinking about how casual Reina’s statement was. She had placed Nina above killers with a casual wave of her hand like it was an easy feat. If the magnitude of her situation hadn’t crashed down on her already, it certainly would have now. She found it insane that the issue could be deflected so easily, but on the other hand Reina’s casual attitude was the thing that was helping her the most. She wasn’t just calm, her expression oozed confidence. It wasn’t lost on Nina that her capture could spell disaster for not only her, but also The Cloud Orchestra. Reina had nabbed her from straight under SuTSU’s nose and they would be very interested to know how it happened. The Cloud Orchestra was everything to Reina, so she must have been confident that Nina would be fine.

“So what do I need to do?” she asked. Maybe she wouldn’t need to do anything, just hide in the office like it was a nuclear bunker for a few months. Euris seemed to do it without an issue, so maybe she would survive too. Unless Saela strangled her in the middle of the night or something, she could even take it easy. She pictured Svanda hauling piles upon piles of books into her room complete with some takeaway. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“It’s a little earlier than I was planning for, but that’s alright. You just need to come with us,” Reina smiled as she accepted the cup of tea that Svanda handed her. She sipped it and paused for a moment as she set it down on the table before spreading her arms. “Come with us and everything will have sorted itself out by the time we get back.”

Nina immediately realised where this was going when she saw the smile on Reina’s face. This was it, the reason why this organization was called The Cloud Orchestra. This was why the group had looked so composed when she had met them in the sky on that fateful day, and this was why they had looked so at home with the earth stretched out like a canvas below them.

Trim clenched her fists as she stood up, bouncing on the balls of her feet as though she was warming up for a fight. Watching on, Svanda chuckled as she rubbed her palms together while Reina’s smile continued to grow as she examined the look on Nina’s face. Nina hadn’t said anything, but her curious gaze had asked Reina for the confirmation without any need for words.

“That’s right,” she nodded. “Our schedule has been filled, so get ready because we’re dropping through tomorrow. It’s time for your first tour.”