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20
NIKATHY
It startled me to see Rhiannon in the radio room so suddenly. I had hoped she would continue resting for some time to I could focus on the battle playing out overhead. I could feel the strange spark between us as soon as she entered the room, and if I gave it even a tiny bit of attention, I would only fan it into a full-on flame.
Just this morning, as I'd woken up and found my way into the hall, I had run across Cosma. I questioned why she had come back, but in the end, this was her home. She felt safer here than anywhere else, and I had to accept that.
"Don't look at me like that, Nikathy. She wasn't in the garden when I went to bring her breakfast this morning. The rest of the house burned to the ground. It's not like she was hiding in a planter or something." Her scolding was harsh, but she didn't make it personal. “But I don’t suppose it matters either way, does it?”
I gave her a regretful look, but I knew what I had to do. “Look, Cosma, I know you and Pops had a thing, and I know we…”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving for me to get on with it, saving me from having to say it out loud.
“Anyway, I don’t want to force you out, but you need to know that we can’t be together. We just can’t.”
Despite her composure, I knew I'd hurt her. Cosma and I weren't mates, but she was a trusted companion.
I’d made my way to the radio room, eager to speak with Adreax and Herod. I had to assume that they would answer because I couldn't bear the thought that anything else had happened during the night. Surely I would have heard if anything disastrous had occurred.
Thankfully, when I put on the headset and called out to the ships, my friends greeted me—with plenty of mockery—and I felt my fears washing away. All was well up above.
But all at once, another pilot called out that the Patrol was on the move again, and I found myself glued to my seat, listening intently to the play-by-play. I couldn't tear myself away as long as I could hear the determined war cries of the pilots, the blasts of gunfire, and the screams of pilots struck down.
I rubbed at my temples and tried to make sense of the cries for help that cut in through the static.
Then Rhiannon was standing over my shoulder, smiling at me innocently, and I was so shaken that I could hardly return the favor. The next time I chanced a look over in her direction, I found her wearing the headset just like the night before, carefully listening to the calls and whispering to herself as she took mental notes. I could see she was plotting something from the way her eyes stared into the middle distance and she muttered distances under her breath, working out some problem that was as yet unknown to me.
Apparently Rhiannon discovered what she needed, because she soon let herself out of the radio room, struggling with the walker on her way out.
After she had gone, I felt a semblance of relief. She hadn't fought me, and she hadn't stayed here waiting for me to come around. I hoped that in this way we had reached an unspoken agreement about our relationship, and that for the time being, the night we had shared was little more than a memory with no bearing on our future. Perhaps we would revisit it later, but for now, it was best if we focused our attentions where they were truly needed and avoided any more foolishness. Especially me.
Half of my estate already sat destroyed, and if I lost the favor of my father's connections in the city, the home I was just growing accustomed to might become hostile as well.
I would make no foolish mistakes on account of Rhiannon and put my head back down to listen to the radio calls coming in, trying to think of a way to help.
