Luc smiled.
“It’s not the Void. It wouldn’t be made of the same material.”
“It’s the Void.” Lila straightened.
Luc creased his face in annoyance.
“You like the Void, don’t you?” she teased, brushing his hair away from his face. “You like that there’s something in our world that no one has figured out yet because that means you get to.”
Luc shrugged.
“Well, it’s got to be useful for something. Otherwise, what is it doing here?”
“You realize it was here before you? Maybe it’s wondering the same thing about you.” She drew a line down his chest.
“The Void”—he grabbed her wrist—“doesn’t have sentience.”
“Why not?” She slipped out of his grasp and stood. “The Creator has sentience.”
“Well, what is the Void saying then?”
“Get out of my stomach.”
“What?”
“We could be in its stomach right now. We don’t know.” Whipping away from Luc, Lila drifted to the edge of the platform. She wondered if the Void would have anything to say about their speculations.
“The Void is not abeing.” Luc crept up beside her. “And stop! That’s weird.”
“You’re weird.” She turned to him. “You want to create another Void.”
“It’snot…” Luc huffed. “I’m going to steal your pin,” he threatened, reaching for her collar.
“Hey! No, I need that!” Lila protested, but she didn’t stop him from unhooking her carpentry pin and removing it from her robes.
“I’ll trade you.” Luc removed his architect pin and placed it where hers had been.
He smiled, his metalworking pin still gleaming on his collar. A hammer and anvil.
“It suits you. You should keep it.”
Lila arched an eyebrow.
“I doubt you want to start your career with the Council by losing your pin at the first opportunity.”
Luc shrugged.
“They’ll give me another one. Keep it. I won’t take it back.” Pocketing her pin, he smirked and assured her, “I’ll keep yours too.”
“I suppose I can steal Castor’s,” Lila mentioned, relenting with a sigh.
“Good. He deserves it.”
Lila smiled.
There were few moments in Lila’s existence where she allowed herself to feel all that she wanted to feel, but this was one of them. She beamed with pride as she smoothed her finger over the metal pin she’d longed for: a half-circle inside a circle, each formed from a series of interwoven knots. The knots symbolized the interconnections of all the arts when they joined together in architectural designs.
When she looked up and saw Luc’s eyes mirroring her happiness, she felt a surge of love for him, and, for once, she let it wash over her, and she didn’t stop it.
