The Scent of Rain

  Ivy looked upwards with an annoyed expression, her eyes fluttering as a single droplet fell onto her nose. It had never really occurred to her what rain could even look like, let alone smell like. For all her life, she had spent her time enclosed within her mansion or entrapped within an icy pnet.

  "Are you alright?" Lunae shifted, a bit of worry etched on her face.

  The girl was entirely unbothered by the rain as it began to intensify. If anything, she seemed relieved to feel the wet downpour. It was a bit of home for Lunae, serving as a reminder that the Aerie was not entirely alien.

  "I'm fine." Ivy furrowed her brow.

  The girls had spent a week at the Aerie, and during that time, even within the crimson forest, it never felt lived in. That surrealness had finally come to a close with a shift in the weather.

  This was their home now.

  Lunae smiled, averting her gaze to the pool of water that formed at her feet. The uneven pavement was perfect for her bare feet to cause a spsh with each step, as her hair began to turn sleek and dark. She loved the smell of wet grass and the moisture in the air.

  Ivy, however, seemed to hate it. She was practically pouting in silence. Lunae almost began to twirl around like a water dancer before she took notice.

  "Oh," she smiled, calling forth a Psionic projection in the shape of an umbrel. "Here, Ivy."

  The heiress squinted at the blue parasol, its silky canopy rippling gently in the breeze. She quite liked the style Lunae had made for it, with its ivory handle and floral patterns stitched upon its folds. Ivy could only put up a moment of resistance before hobbling over to Lunae's protection in a hurry.

  "You've never seen it before?" Lunae giggled, her bare shoulder pressing against the heiress.

  "You mean rain." Ivy glowered.

  "Yes. It's quite nice, isn't it?"

  "Perhaps." The heiress paused. "It's something my heart used to know."

  Lunae stared with curiosity on her face. "Whatever do you mean?"

  Ivy had no eboration avaible. Her moments of reflection were sparse and inchoate. But Lunae had seen enough.

  "It is a bit jarring." She spoke gently, interlocking her arm with Ivy as if a gentleman. "Growing accustomed to this pce."

  The heiress sighed as she followed along with Lunae back towards the housing. "It makes me feel...lost."

  "You yearn for home?"

  "Quite the opposite. I can't go back there. I won't. Which means I have no home. I merely wander in this pce."

  "Perhaps you can find a new home," Lunae whispered, the softness in her voice practically bracing Ivy like a pillow. "Some day."

  "I hope the same for you. Alien." Ivy smirked.

  "Well. We're all aliens now. If we get through this, Ivy..."

  "We won't ever be the same. I know." The heiress looked down at the floor, tracing Lunae's footsteps.

  "Let's head back to our companions." Lunae breathed in.

  - - - - - - - - - -

  The sound of thunder boomed across the dark, clouded sky, as the warm yellow lights of the Aerie glowed brighter to compensate. Li sat pensively alongside Sonera, waiting at the table in the cafeteria for Ivy and Lunae to return. To no one's surprise, their attitudes on the matter were disconcertingly different.

  "Li," Sonera muttered, looking over at the Earthling as the lights around her flickered, allowing her signature eyes to illuminate the dark for the briefest of moments. "Are you...afraid?"

  A loud boom shook the Aerie, and Li nearly jumped out of her seat.

  "I never did like storms of any kind." Li shuddered. "Not even on Earth."

  "It's just weather."

  "Yeah, well, you're from Mars. I bet you're used to way worse."

  Sonera smiled. Li's statement was true enough. Her people had historically weathered geostorms of every variety after the botched terraforming efforts.

  Though unlike Rena, she didn't quite bme Ivy for any of her pnet's woes, even though some of them could indeed be tied to Tessetion. On the contrary, she found herself warming up to the heiress by the hour. If anyone could reconcile with Li, even if by a smidge, then they had to be salvageable.

  That was at least Sonera's somewhat hypocritical observation. For all her silent stoicism, she liked to judge others and brood on their behavior on some occasions. Though perhaps it wasn't completely unexpected.

  "Sorry about that, by the way." Li sighed. "Your past must have been rough."

  "It made me what I am now." Sonera shrugged. "What's done is done."

  "Well...just know I think you're a pretty selfless person, Sonera."

  "Oh?" Sonera tilted her head.

  The Earthling smiled. "Yeah. You're aloof, sure, but you're also keenly aware of others and reach out to them. That's not what a self-centered freako does."

  As if on cue, Yrix waltzed into the room with a silent step, making herself known only once she had already borne down upon the girls. In her hands was a steaming ptter, containing a selection of hot liquid and brown cookies. Li spun around, wordless and shocked to see what her captor had prepared.

  "For the weather." Yrix leaned down, pcing the ptter on the table. "You'll find some extra bnkets by your bed."

  She walked away without another word, leaving even Sonera speechless. All of a sudden, their careful rhetoric used to comfort each other had been flipped upside down. If a troubled individual could find even a sliver of redemption in being thoughtful towards others, then what did that make Yrix?

  "I think she's the only person here who really annoys me." Li scoffed.

  "Not even the heiress?" Sonera teased.

  "Well, yeah, her too, but that's a different sort of feeling. Yrix is just so..."

  Li reached for a cookie and took a bite out of it. They were soft and clearly homemade made judging by the texture. She didn't want to say they tasted good, but her face told the whole story.

  What kind of Arch-Fyer bakes cookies?

  "She's just so backwards!" Li continued with a mouthful of cookie. "Like, if you care about us so much, stop trying to brutally murder us."

  "Her feelings are genuine," Sonera noted. "It's just how she views love. Nonetheless, I will kill her."

  Amidst their thoughts of warm friendship and confused ideology, the girls failed to more astutely observe their surroundings.

  Something had arrived at the Aerie, shrouded by the storm.

  A visitor.