Until he lost her.

Worthless man.

Nothing she could do but stay put. Too many people with black hair and not enough room to notice his eyes. Her hair and her dress against the steel wall behind her were enough of a beacon for him. It wouldn't be long; it was a matter of entertaining herself in the meantime.

But it was like being a street removed from the party district, how the light and sound reached her, but only ever enough to prove its existence. Beyond that, it was a murky other, some parallel life that ran along its own timeline unbeknownst to her.

So it was ironic for Special Operations to throw such a thing. How easy was it to just waltz back onto the ballroom floor, knowing how much of it was a cheap sham thrown together over a few days? Maybe she was in deeper than anyone else, but being on the outside felt...right. Like at least she wasn't forcing herself to be ignorant of the streets on either side of the pleasure district, where death seemed to follow like a rabid dog, and only the sights and sound kept it at bay, if only barely.

"Hello, ma'am."

And here was a man who seemed the least knowledgeable on such a topic.

Brown hair slicked backwards to show off his admittedly decent forehead. Teeth were in line, only just, but the freckles on his face and the way his jaw kicked a little too far forward gave Evalyn leeway to suspect him as shallow as the layer of wax in his hair. That type of man, the type to compensate for his shortcomings with things he could handle.

Money, women...she took back the second one.

"Are you here for the festivities?"

Master of deduction. Add that to the resume.

Her silence didn't seem to deter him.

"I hear one of the Major Generals is transferring to the Army. This is his farewell party."

The man took a place beside Evalyn, inching a little too close.

"I don't remember you among our cohort," he said. "Are you new, perhaps? I could show you around if you'd like."

He shuffled even closer, each centimetre gained a millimetre her mental gauge ticked from "punch in the gut," to "punch in the gut but reinforce my arm with magic."

A thin line between life and death, but hey, that was part of the Pilot's job description.

One last look at the man's eyes, the ones that seemed to see the prize beyond the person, beyond even the flesh.

Yep. She felt eighteen again.

"Oi."

A voice she recognised, but thought she'd never hear again. A stare she knew intimately, the one she'd appealed to in her time of need, the one she'd ultimately fallen in love with.

A man who seemed eighteen again too. A rotten stare that shared the cold cruelty of rusted nails, and a voice that seemed to appeal to an animalistic instinct, to the very soul, that its master was far superior in every which way.

Someone not to be trifled with, and it wasn't clear if he was a gang boss or a war criminal; as long as it wasn't a good character, it was a good first guess as to who he was.

"Knowing your type, I don't know if you'd rather lose the use of your legs or lose your rank. So pick. Do I demote you, or do I throw you over the nearest barrister?"

Evalyn had never seen a more terrified salute in her life.

She watched the man go, amazed more than anything else. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Elliot approach her, that same gaze still plastered on his face. He bent closer, slipped an arm under her's and behind her back, and another under her knees. She felt herself part with the floor and cling to his neck, still partly in shock.

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She savoured the face, the unpleasant, unfriendly face she barely got to savour anymore.

"I always wanted to do that," her husband snorted.

"What?" Evalyn asked, the grin infectious.

"I always wanted to do something like that," Elliot said, smiling, and returning her husband to her.

Evalyn broke into a smile, and couldn't help but laugh at the buffoon she'd signed that contract with.

He'd gotten them access to the runway viewing platform, the place she'd spent many afternoons gazing at him drawing loops in the sky. Instead of contrails, it was stars. An awful lot of them, too.

"Marie refused any lanterns to travel with the Steel Whale for this reason exactly," Elliot said. "Although her office is one of the few places you can see it without breaking the rules and coming here."

Stars. A jacket over her shoulders. All of it was too cliche for it to be her life.

Maybe that's what it was leading up to, the line she had drawn for herself if she never insisted on being a soldier—the lucky one where she ended up with a half-decent man who could keep the lights on for her next five generations.

Thinking too much made her head hurt, so she decided not to. Stargazing was a rare opportunity, wasting it with hypotheticals was bad manners.

"There's someone down there," Elliot muttered, leaning over the railings and squinting. "Oh! It's two of my students."

Two Beaks, barely visible besides their masks and their uniforms. How Elliot could recognise them from such a distance was utterly beyond her.

"Oi!" Elliot bellowed, ruining the young couple's moment. "Terris! Graler!"

The two figures turned around in shock, saluting their teacher out of pure habit. Elliot chuckled before inhaling again, his chest expanding with another smart line.

"You owe me a round next week, so keep it short!"

Evalyn stifled a laugh with her hand as the two cadets stumbled over their words, unsure what to make of Elliot's generosity. Her husband relaxed, a grin on his face as he watched them for another moment.

"You've changed," Evalyn said.

"Compared to when?"

"When we first met."

Elliot scoffed, leaning on the rail and facing her. "I hope so! Can't live like that forever."

"It wouldn't have mattered to me," Evalyn said with confidence. "You've changed, but not like that."

"How have I changed, then?" he asked, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Before, you were such a grump, now you share my husband with the rest of the world," she explained, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You haven't changed," Elliot muttered.

"Not everything. I only kept the parts I liked."

"And got rid of the ones that kept you from liking them in the first place."

They both smiled, admitting a draw.

She kissed him first. She definitely did. The way she had to lift herself up the last few centimetres to meet his lips confirmed that it was her that started it. She could be proud of that.

But it was he who kept on kissing. What she anticipated as just another welcome home peck, he turned into something that made her heart race, something she couldn't get out of even if she tried.

But she didn't mind it. Feeling like a princess every once in a while was just what she needed.

Elliot pulled away first, leaving Evalyn confused, almost dissatisfied.

"I'll call the East Excala Library, ask if they can babysit Iris for the night."

Worthless man.

And unfortunately, she was a worthless woman as well.

Iris would understand one day.