The Trial of the Ghost

Chapter 5: The Timelapse of a River

Months started to pass and when they all looked back, seeing how much had changed, the shift had felt as natural as breathing.

First, people noticed Kra and Los. It didn’t take long for them to become integral in each other’s lives. It didn’t take long for their colleagues to notice.

About a week after Kra’s first day, Kra had been chatting with Dechryrf by the cooler when they noticed it was time to leave. Kra wished him a good day then started to walk directly for Los, who had headphones on, then Dech grabbed her forearm. She turned to him and he shook his head, slightly frantic.

“Kra, do not,” he warned, releasing her arm. “Really, don’t disturb him. Take it from someone with experience, when La’dyliap gets in the zone, it takes screaming his name to get him out and he does not take kindly to it.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kra replied, the closest she ever got to a scoff. “Why would he yell?”

“Because he’s a psycho and I’ve seen him reduce people to tears when they interrupt him.” Dech shook his head. “It’s worse than being berated by your dad. Save yourself.”

Kra laughed. “There’s no need. Watch, I’ll prove it.”

She started towards Los’ desk, thinking about her dad, thinking about both of them. The only reason Ralehal would ever feel the need to scold her was if she was doing careless science, and Kra had heard him murmur about the backwards nature of science on this planet enough to know he’d probably blame her lack of a Troan education rather than her. As for Nath, well, when he couldn’t calmly explain what she’d done wrong and why, he left the explanation to Mar.

Kra lightly tapped Los’ shoulder and he looked up, pushing his headphones aside.

“Hmm?” he asked.

“It’s time to leave, want to walk out together? I….” She smiled sheepishly. “Um. I still don’t think I’ve got the hang of the building yet.”

Los nodded. “Yeah, of course.” He made a vague gesture at his computer. “Could you give me like one to five minutes? I need to wrap a few things up.”

Kra nodded and Los slid his headphones back on. Kra walked to her desk to gather her things. Dech approached her, somewhere between whispering and hissing, “How did you do that? If I’d done that, I’d have gotten a ‘what the fuck do you want?’”

Kra shrugged. “Well, you see-”

“And you’re calling him Los?” Dech demanded. “I’ve worked here three years and the last time I tried to call La’dyliap ‘Alle,’ he nearly slapped me. What’s your secret? How did you tame Allelosin La’dyliap?”

For a second, Kra froze then turned from her packing to Dech. “He’s not a wild animal, Dech. He’s human.”

Dech chuckled. “Allelosin La’dyliap isn’t human. He’s a demon servant of What Is Nameless.”

Kra felt a pit in her stomach and resumed, shoving things in her bag far more careless than normal. “Does everyone see him that way?”

“You mean single focused, mean, judgy, not caring for human life, and altogether unpleasant to be around?” Dech asked, far too glib for her liking. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Hey, Kra?” Los called too loudly, looking past Kra with a cold expression. He slung his bag over his shoulder. “You ready to leave?”

Kra nodded and turned to her friend. “Yeah. Absolutely.” She turned back to Dechryrf. “Have a great day, Dech! See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah, see you,” Dech murmured noncommittally.

Kra grabbed her bag and followed Los. He moved aside to allow her space at his side. Once they were out of earshot, she muttered, “How much did you hear?”

“Kra,” Los replied with something similar to pity, “none of this is new. No one likes me.”

Her brows furrowed. “Why?”

Los sighed. Astrakael, how does she not see? “Oh, lots of things. I’m not good with social niceties and white lies given that I tend to say the first thing I think of and it usually comes out as rude. So do all of my jokes. I can’t tell one to save my life.”

“But…. That’s just not true! Remember in college that joke you made about my comput-”

“That’s cause you’re a weirdo, shepherdess,” he cut in with an eye roll, “who, for whatever reason, makes the same bizarre connections I do. Other people don’t go from A to D like us. They just assume I’m insulting them when I’m aiming for lighthearted teasing.”

“Well,” Kra said, “I get it and if you need an outlet, just tease me. I can take it as long as you aren’t punching down.”

“You realize you’re signing up for the full Allelosin La’dyliap experience, right? It can get intense.”

Kra laughed. “I’m tougher than I look.”

Los narrowed his eyes. “You look plenty tough.”

“It’s the years of farm work.”

His eyes narrowed. “And exactly how long has it been since you’ve been home?”

“Excuse me!” she protested. “I visit my parents every year. But…. It- yeah, it has been a bit since they made me do farm work. We mostly focus on spending time as a, well, a family when I visit.”

“Thought so.” They crossed into the outdoors and paused, turning to each other. He gave her a small wave. “See you tomorrow, Kra N’tek.”

Kra beamed, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “See you tomorrow, Los. Bright and early.”

The incident spread across the office and being Los’ human filter was just another reason to love Kra. Whenever she was around, not only was Los just nicer, whenever he had something snarky to say, he’d whisper it to her. She’d then laugh and that would be it. No one was entirely at ease around Los, but he was treated more like a time bomb than like a walking irradiated trash can, which was an improvement he marveled at.

He marveled even more when Kra told him he was going to go a bar with her and their colleagues after work.

“They….” he started, knowing he likely looked as if someone caught him in the middle of a theft. “They invited me?”

“Well, not exactly,” Kra amended. “I asked if you could come with us and they said yes!” She smiled brightly. “Isn’t that great?”

Los turned over the facts as she had explained them. It was going to be a mixed group of their peers and the bar was a few streets over, near a major subway stop. Everyone could drink as much as they wanted as today was Uidday, the fourth day of the week, and tomorrow was Arday, midweek, aka the day off they got before the last three days of the work week. No one was going to have to worry about getting hung over. Wasn’t that just fantastic? The idea of being around his colleagues who would have no reason to curb their drinking. The thought of their lack of filter absolutely didn’t make him want to throw up.

“Yeah, Kra, sure,” he replied. “That sounds wonderful.”

He was sure she had heard the sarcasm but for some unfathomable reason, she beamed and energetically replied, “Great! I’ll tell them you’re coming! This is going to be so much fun!”

“Right.”

Kra sighed and met his gaze. “Los, I know you don’t think this will be a good thing, but, please, can you trust me on this?” she pleaded, her eyes widening. “Please?”

Los sighed. How could he say no when she was looking at him like that? “I’ll try to not make any more enemies.”

Kra beamed again, as bright as the sun. “Thank you! I’ll let them know we’re coming!”

It must be because of Kra, he thought. No one would agree to me coming if it weren’t for her. And since they really want her to go, they have to accept that she’s dragging me out there or she won’t come. Yes, that must be what happened.

He felt like laughing to himself. Of course Kra had made their colleagues so desperate to spend time with her that they’d put up with him when she hadn’t even been here a month yet. Thirty days since she’d arrived here. Six more before it was officially a month.

What had he agreed to? Why did he somehow know Kra wouldn’t agree to go without him? Why did Buiyikyuk assign her as his partner?

Well, he knew the answer to the last one.

As for the second, Kra was more deceptive than Los had yet realized. She would have gone, of course she wanted to know her colleagues better, but this could be a good way to help Los make some friends. Or, at least start the process.

If Los knew any of that, he would have straight up refused to come, claiming it was a hopeless cause. So Kra told him none of that and left Los to groan internally (which he absolutely did) when he saw the crowd. Menois, Ashrit, Sila, Nisajkael, Tamgarre, Dechryrf, and Radgyeln.

Menois hated him.

So did Dech.

And Nisajkael. Really hated him.

He could instantly tell it was going to be a long night and was proven right when the conversation shifted to office crushes.

“So, La’dyliap,” Menois slurred, slightly drunk and obviously (except, probably, to Kra) feeling more than slightly malicious. He smirked and propped his chin on his fist. “Who’s your office crush?”

Los felt everyone’s eyes go to him. “I don’t have one,” he replied as evenly as he could.

“Oh come on!” Nisajkael protested, throwing her hands in the air. “We’ve all shared ours.” Not true. No one had asked Kra yet. “Come on, you’ve been here a while. Who do you have your eye on?”

“No one.”

Dech rolled his eyes. “Fine. Be that way.” His eyes narrowed. “What about outside work? Boyfriend? Girlfriend? Partner?”

His skin tightened around his knuckles. “I am not seeing anyone.”

“Really?” Menois asked with a glint in his eyes that spelled trouble. “Not even Kra?”

“Kra is my friend,” Los snapped, noticing the blush rise to Kra’s cheeks. Great. Menois’ hatred of him was making Kra embarrassed. As if Menois didn’t already fucking suck. “She is a friend and nothing more.”

“So you aren’t sleeping with the only person who can stand you?” He snorted. “Hard to believe.”

Nisajkael, Dech, Sila, and Radgyeln chuckled. Tamngarre’s mouth hung open in shock and Ashrit glared at Menois and snapped, “What is wrong with you?”

“What?” Menois asked innocently. “We were all thinking it!”

“I need to use the bathroom,” Los said curtly and rose. “Excuse me.”

He walked away, pushing his way through the mass of people. Behind him, he heard Kra get up and make some excuse. He heard her trying to follow, but he increased his speed as much as possible, trying to get lost in the sea of people.

He glanced back to see her bump into another girl. Both of their eyes went wide. He took this welcome distraction to finally lose her.

A few more elbows, and Los was on the street, sitting on the curb. It was warm. It smelled like dog piss and weed.

Ah, Emlytos. Never change, do you?

“Hey,” Kra’s voice said lightly. “May I join you?”

Los shrugged. He didn’t look at her. That didn’t stop Kra from sitting down, well, trying. She began sitting next to him, but slipped and landed on her rear.

“You okay?” Los asked.

Kra grinned and adjusted. “Just fine, Los.” He smiled a little too. This happened all the time. Her grin slipped. “Los, look… I… I’m sorry. I should have stopped them. I-”

“It’s not your fault,” he assured her, reaching out the short distance to briefly squeeze her knee. “Kra, really. Besides, what would you have done? Punched them?” He scoffed and she chuckled with him. “We both know that isn’t your style, shepherdess, and I’d rather you not get mixed up in my battles. I can fight them just fine.”

“Oh, I know. I, um, kind of expected you to break his arm.”

Los shrugged. “I considered it, but I really don’t need a lawsuit.”

“And…?” Kra prompted.

He shot her a glare. “Stop understanding me. It’s not nice.” Kra kept looking at him expectedly and he sighed, his eyes drifting to the sky. He let them stay there, scanning for stars in the darkening sky. “I… If I picked a fight, I’d only be proving them right about me. Walking away felt like the better thing to do.”

“It was,” Kra assured him. He felt her hand on his shoulder and he met her dark brown eyes. “Not that he didn’t deserve it, but you did the right thing.”

“I know,” he admitted with a small smile. “I did what I thought you would do. It… it’s easier to be nice around you. You make me a better person.”

Kra smiled back and leaned against him. “That’s sweet, Los.”

“I mean it,” he affirmed, putting his arm around her shoulder in a one armed hug.

“I know.” Kra slung her arm around his waist and mirrored it.

Los absorbed her warmth for a moment before pulling away. “Should we go back in?”

Kra stilled. “I… I… Los-” She pursed her lips. “Do… do you think we could stay out here for a few more minutes?” She hesitated. Los clocked her wide eyes, tense face, and slightly quivering jaw. “I, um, can’t go back in right now.”

Los instantly worried. “Yeah, okay. But… Kra, do- do you want to talk about it? We don’t have to if-”

“It’s okay. I just… I bumped into my ex.” She grimaced. “Ana. We…. Well, when you move to the middle of the continent, you don’t think the girl you loved in high school will find you there.”

She sighed. “What I don’t know if you’ll ever understand about M’sav is how small it is. There’s one small city, Dart, and Lil is the smallest of the few villages elsewhere on the island. Dart has the only schools and there are maybe five hundred kids per grade on a good year. Mine was a hundred and well, Ana and I were the only ones from Lil.

“The thing about Lil is we got electricity and plumbing only twenty years ago. Electronics are scarce. Most of us don’t own computers or can’t afford to use them often, so like the other villager kids, Ana and I… we often did homework at one of Dart’s libraries.

“It… it would have been hard to avoid her. In high school. We’re neighbors and since we had a small grade, we had a lot of classes together. And… she was the only person I knew. I was homeschooled until high school. Ana… she wasn’t. She helped introduce me to people, make friends. It was hard for me. I’d had a crush on her since I met her when I was six and all that time… I’d fallen for her since then.”

“Kra…” Los said softly. “We don’t have to talk about this.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s okay.” She offered him a small smile. “I want to tell you about this. You see, it was amazing when Ana started noticing me. It was… less amazing when we had problems. For Lil, my family is private. Ana… Ana never really understood that. Or respected my boundaries. She… she didn’t….” She closed her eyes, cutting off the beginnings of tears as best she could. “Ana told me absolutely everything and never understood that I didn’t have to do the same because she did. That I didn’t owe her my secrets. And she never understood I’d tell her if she would just give me time. She violated my trust. I forgave her the first two times but at the third, it was hard to take her word that she’d change.”

Kra could see it as clear as day, catching Ana outside the storm cellar, knowing that if she put her hand in the wrong place, the bunker would open and she’d see her ship. Her secret would be exposed, no matter if she was ready or not.

“That was the end of junior year when we broke up for the last time. Seeing her during senior year was hard, but I got through it and went to Emlytos for college and only had to worry about seeing her when I came home. Seeing her now, where I least expect it…. It’s jarring. She… she wants another chance. She’s going to be here, in Emlytos for a while. She…. She’s going to law school here.”

Kra shuttered. Los took her hand and squeezed it, “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything else.”

Kra squeezed his hand back. It was easy, comforting, not awkward. She liked that she could have that kind of friendship with him. Too many of her friends were sparse with their hugs. “Really, Los, it’s okay. I don’t love her anymore. It’s been years and I’ve had a lot of space. I’m over her, but I don’t know if I’ll ever not have a reaction to her.” She sighed. “She turns me into a bit of a mess. I don’t like going back to where I was when we broke up.”

“Do you want to leave?” Los asked. “We could leave. You don’t have to go inside. Or, you could go and I’ll make your excuses.”

“No,” Kra said, her voice laced with determination. “I’m not going to let her spoil the night. I’ll be okay. I just need another minute.”

“Take as long as you need.”

She leaned against him again, head resting on his shoulder despite being taller than him by several inches. “Thanks, Los.”

Allelosin looked at Kra. “I… I kind of know how you feel. Torture at being close to someone.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, my, my college roommate, who is my current roommate, actually, I… I used to have a crush on him. It was bad for months, being in the same room as him. I… I eventually got over it, it wasn’t as permanent as this stuff with your ex, but it’s not a fun experience. I know it’s not the same, not remotely, but I just wanted you to know… I get it a little.”

Kra smiled. “It’s okay.” She stood and offered him a hand. “I think I’m ready to go back inside.”

Los took her hand and she pulled him up. They went back inside and pushed their way through the crowd back to their colleagues.

The group had an extra member now.

There was a guy. With an arm around Nisajkael. She smiled with gritted teeth and kept trying to subtly push him off her.

Kra and Los glanced at each other and approached.

“Come on, baby,” the creepy guy said.

It was bad enough for Los, who could smell the alcohol on his breath from there, but the smell nearly overwhelmed Kra.

“Did he bathe in beer?” Los whispered to Kra, who only shrugged in response.

“Don’t be that way.” The creepy guy leaned down, his mouth an each from Nisajkael’s ear. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“No thank you,” Nisajkael said as pleasantly as possible. Los could hear fear in her voice. Why weren’t the others doing anything? “I’m good here.”

“But why?” the man whined. “Come on, baby girl, I know how to treat you righ-”

“Hey!” Los called, marching up. “Shit for brains!” He grabbed the man’s arm and tore him off Nisajkael then positioned himself between the fuckboy and his colleague. “She said no. Are your ears as clogged as your brain?”

“Oh, come on man,” the man tried to reason. “She knows she wants i-”

Los kneed him in the balls then pushed him so hard the entire bar could hear his back hit the floor.

“She said no,” Los hissed. “Are you familiar with the word? It means fuck off.” Los stepped on his hand. He broke no bones. Probably should. “Touch her again and I’ll break your legs.”

“Who are you?” the man asked, starting to sit up. “Her boyfriend?”

Los laughed. “Nope. Not even close.”

“You’re insane,” the creep said, shakily rising to his feet.

“And you need to find the door.” Los pointed. “That way. Go before one of my companions decides to call the cops to charge you with sexual assault.”

“I-”

“Now.” Los glared. The man went and the crowd made room for him, avoiding him as if touching him would get them cursed. Los glared at the crowd. “Anyone else need a lesson in ‘no?’” There were murmurs, but everyone turned back to their own conversations. “Good,” Los said to himself. He turned to Nisajkael, “You okay?”

“I… You hate me,” she sputtered out.

“Yeah, and you hate me.” He shrugged. It really wasn’t that complicated. “So?”

“I…. what…. Why?”

“You said no,” Los replied simply, taking his seat back. “And as much of a bitch as you might be, no one deserves that.”

Nisajkael just stared at him. She blinked and shook herself out of whatever shock she’d been in. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” Los grinned to himself. “Been a while since I’ve done anything like that.”

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Tamgarre asked. “And do they still give lessons?”

Allelosin’s eyes immediately snapped up to Tamgarre’s. “I learned from friends of my father,” he said sharply, his jaw firm and eyes cold. “And no, they don’t give lessons. Trust me, you wouldn’t want them.”

“Oh,” Tamgarre said quietly, a realization in his eyes. “Okay. Thanks, Alle.”

“Losin,” Los snapped. He winced. “Sorry, I just… Not that. Not that one. I… My family calls me Losin.”

“And what about your friends?” Ashrit asked gently.

“I only have two,” Los admitted. “Three if you count my sister. One mostly says Allelosin. The other prefers Los.”

“And anyone calling you that other than Kra would be weird,” Sila murmured. The rest of the table nodded, agreeing with her. She raised her glass. “Cheers, Losin. Now your friends call you that too.”

The table raised their glasses and chinked them together. Los could barely believe it. Did he have friends? How had that happened?

Kra clanked her glass against the others, her smile secretly not for any of them. Mission accomplished.

The group kept meeting on Uiddays as the week passed. But that wasn’t the only regular social event on Allelosin’s calendar. Zaday nights, the last day of the work week, Kra insisted that he come over for dinner with her and her roommate and that he invite his roommate.

It wasn’t as if Los could deny her, so he let her drag him to her apartment after work.

“Wow,” he said, taking in the large space. “This is nice.”

“Corla works for Kaenwe International,” Kra replied, dropping her bag down near the coatrack. “She’s an artificer, specializing in the internet.”

“Ah,” Los said. Artificers with connections to the web were rare. No wonder Corla could afford this place. “Makes sense.”

“Take a seat, I’ll see if Corla is up.”

Kra disappeared into a room and Los took in the space. Couch. Two armchairs. Coffee table. A dining room table just beyond the couches, right in front of a giant window with a door out to a balcony. He saw an embroidery project on the coffee table. There were paintings of mountains and valleys and sunsets along the walls. They were lined with small bookshelves too, decorated with paper cranes, crochet dolls, and plant pots on the tops shelves. One opposite the couch had a TV on it. It was nice. Cozy. Full of light and color.

Kra definitely lived here.

Kra emerged, dragging a girl with light brown skin and long black hair tied in a messy braid, muttering things about hating her life. Her brown eyes took him in and he thought he saw some suspicion there.

“Corla, Los,” Kra said cheerfully. “Los, Corla. You two chat. I’ll get started on dinner!”

Kra whisked herself away to the kitchen, stumbling a bit over her own feet and laughing at herself. Los’ eyes narrowed in the direction she had disappeared off into.

“Is that safe?” he asked.

“Pardon?” Corla replied, her eyes narrowing.

“Is it safe for Kra to be in the kitchen?” Los clarified. “With knives? With, you know, how clumsy she is?”

Corla shrugged. “She’s never hurt herself in the kitchen. She knows what she’s doing too much to get nervous or scared.”

“Don’t test me!” Kra yelled.

“Don’t you dare, Kra!” Corla shouted back. She rolled her eyes and muttered, “I hate my life.”

Corla wasn’t bad, he quickly realized, just constantly tired from staring at screens. They were able to start a conversation quickly. Apparently, Corla hadn’t heard the full story of Kra’s first day at work and once the first one was out of the way, the stories flowed easily.

Eventually, Rox arrived. Corla stared at him.

“What are you doing here?”

“Corla?” he asked. “Allelosin? What’s going on?”

“Wait.” Corla turned to Los. “You know him?”

“He’s my roommate,” Los said slowly. “How do you two know each other?”

“He’s Kra’s friend,” Corla replied.

“You know Kra?” Los asked Rox.

“How do you know Kra?” Rox demanded.

“She’s my partner. That I work with. I told you about that.”

“You never mentioned a name!”

“I didn’t?” Los asked. How had that happened? “How do you know her?”

“Childhood friend. She and her mom volunteered in a hospital I visited.”

“What?”

“Well,” Kra said. They all turned to a doorway to the kitchen. No one knew how long she’d been standing there. “This is unexpected. Hello, Rox! It’s good to see you.”

“Hey Kra!” he said, matching her cheer. “I was wondering when I’d get to see you next.”

“Close the door and come in, why don’t you? Dinner will be ready soon!”

“Can I help?” Los asked, springing to his feet. He needed…. He needed to think. Processes.

“Sure,” Kra said, showing no sign she’d noticed, but Los knew she had when she glanced at Corla, who nodded when Rox couldn’t see her. “Come on in, I’ll show you where we keep the silverwear.”

Los disappeared into the kitchen with her. It was similar to the living room. Bright and plants, succulents this time, hanging from the ceiling everywhere.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

“No problem,” she replied, equally quiet. “So…. Rox? Really?”

“What?” Los asked as Kra opened a drawer. “He’s hot.” Kra playfully punched his shoulder. “Kra. Why was Rox on M’sav as a kid?”

Kra sighed and handed over some forks. “Not my story to tell. But…” she lowered her voice, “the reason Dart is as big as it is is because it has a hospital. A good one. It does all the average kinds of medicine, but it has a good psych ward. My mom and I would volunteer to help out all the time when I was a kid. And M’sav is about as out of the way as it gets….” She gave him a look and handed over some knives. “I think you can come to your own conclusions.”

Los nodded. “That large table, not the coffee, right?”

Kra nodded back. “Yep. That’s the one.”

Los left the kitchen and set the table. The evening progressed smoothly and dinner was lovely. Kra really knew how to cook. When Rox suggested they do this again, Kra, predictably, seized on it and suggested every week.

It was nice. After a few weeks, Rox dragged his twin sister, Zraytena, along with him and she got incorporated into the group.

“See Los,” Kra whispered at one point, leaning closer so no one else could hear. “Now she’s hot.”

Los laughed. “Glad to know you won’t steal Rox from me,” he whispered back to the girl sitting next to him.

Kra made a face. “As if I would want to. I’ve known him way too long.”

Los laughed again and Zraytena gave them a look. “What are you whispering about?”

“Work,” Los lied.

Zraytena glanced at Corla who simply shrugged. She was beyond bothering trying to understand Kra and Los. Los and Kra. Whatever was going on there was none of her business. Zraytena accepted the shrug as enough, but Roxeldan didn’t feel that same satisfaction.

His eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe it was work for a single minute.

You could share, he thought bitterly, stabbing his food.

Los laughed again at something Kra said and Kra accidentally choked on her water.

Rox stabbed another olive and remained silent.

“Kra,” Anaid said, pressing a pillow on their face. “Please shut up.”

Kra blinked. On Mundays, the first day of the weekend and the last day of the week, she met with her other superhero friends in Cebrua’s base of operations, the Nest. She’d been telling stories about work. What was so wrong with that?

“I…”

Anaid sat up and sighed. “Look, Kra,” they said, running a hand through their short curls. Anaid dressed in one of two ways: ‘guess my gender motherfucker, I fucking dare you’ or ‘woke up five seconds ago and will murder to go back to bed.’ Today, their oversized hoodie and sweatpants fell into the latter. “I love you and I am grateful every day that you’re in my life, but do you have any stories these days that don’t involve Allelosin?”

“He….” What was she supposed to say to that? “He’s just a big part of my life now.”

“I know, Kra, I know.” Anaid ran a hand across their face. “And please, believe me, I’m glad you’ve made a good friend, but it’s hard to listen to stories about him nonstop.”

“Okay,” Kra said quietly. “I… I don’t think I have any more stories right now.”

“Shit, Kra,” Anaid stammered out. “I… I… I’m sorry. I don’t want you to stop talking, you know? I… I’m being a bitch again.”

“I thought my sister had control of that category?” Amormirus said temporarily taking possession of his sister’s body. Kra laughed. Othnurarih’s head shook and they all knew she was back. She scowled at her hands. “Shut up, Mirus.” Her head jerked. “Make me.” She jerked again. “Fuck you.”

Cebrua glared. “Can you stop swearing in front of my kid?”

“I’m seventeen!” Chidaera yelled from across the Nest, where she was doing homework with Dostonjay.

“Your sister isn’t!” Cebrua yelled back.

Dostonjay, who was almost fourteen, yelled back, “I’ve heard worse in school!”

Cebrua groaned. “Of course, you have.”

They both went to public school.

“Come on, Anaid,” Oth gloated, “if you’re complaining about Kra’s endless stories about Allelosin, then what have you been up to recently?”

Anaid groaned and sunk into the couch. “That’s the problem. I’ve punched some robbers then gone back to studying. I’m always studying. My life has been really boring recently.”

“Your life has been boring long before we met you,” Oth replied. “Well, I am making no progress with Alfvan Loggers.” She scowled. She scowled a lot. “We’re caught up in legal proceedings. Again.”

Cebrua’s eyes narrowed. “Are they still violating the court orders?”

“And cutting down our trees?” Oth clarified. Bru nodded. “Not as much as they used to be.” She’d been fighting Alfvan Loggers as an activist and as a vigilante since before Kra had met her. The company was trying to destroy trees sacred to her tribe. They were the reason the soul of her brother and her family’s tree had ended up in her body. “They’re trying to be subtle about ignoring the courts.” She glanced at Kra. “You sure I can’t kill them?”

Kra shook her head, a ‘really’ look on her face. She’d convinced Oth that if she was going to destroy machines, she should spare the innocent workers when she tore them apart. Oth sighed. “Do I need to answer that?”

Oth rolled her eyes, but she fondly smiled at her friend. “Yeah, you don’t.” Her face lit up. “Oh, I forgot! Pine’s obsessed with ice cream now.”

“Really?” Anaid asked. “How the fuck did that happen?”

“For once, I agree,” Cebrua added. “How did your tree get obsessed with ice cream? Doesn’t it only take over when you’re doing your superhero shift?”

“Copilot,” Oth corrected, “but no one saw! I was having some ice cream at home, and it wanted to try it so I let it take control for a moment and it finished the entire carton before Mirus could convince it to give me back control!”

“Makes sense Mirus convinced it,” Anaid teased. “He’s so much more likeable than you.”

Mirus grinned and replied. “Thank you!” A moment later, Oth’s face rearranged itself in her signature scowl. “Fuck you too Anaid.”

Anaid tutted. “Now, now. Is that how you speak to your elders?”

“You’re only five years older than me.”

“Still. Baby. My little baby sister”

“Not your sister and I’m almost twenty.”

“You’ve been twenty for less than a week. Calm down.”

“Well, you’re not twenty-five yet.”

“It’s three days away!”

“I’m going to kill you.”

“Are we doing anything?” Kra inquired, shooting a glare at Oth.

“Goddess, please no,” Anaid groaned, invoking the only deity of Ferihjenism, Ferihjen, who tried to multitask while keeping the universe together and didn’t always do it well. “The best gift you can give me is letting me sleep all day.”

“Do you want us to take over your patrol?” Kra asked.

“No,” Anaid sighed. “I ask for that, I might start asking every year and then people might get suspicious that the day means something to me.”

Cebrua nodded in agreement, but Kra’s eyebrows furrowed. “But it’s only one day.”

“Kra, thanks, but I’ve got it. I don’t want New Jaeetos to worry. It’ll be a normal day for Paranormal Peacock.”

“But for Anaid Sekithamri, we just let you sleep?”

Anaid nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. That. Do that. Best birthday ever. Happy twenty five to me.”

“Speaking of birthdays,” Kra said, her voice lowered. She leaned forward and the rest of the adults leaned in as well. Kra nodded to the corner of the room, at Dostonjay, whose birthday was at the end of the month. She looked at Cebrua. “You have something planned, I assume.” Bru nodded. “Then don’t tell us what you need us to do to help at the last minute this year, got it?”

Bru smiled. “Sure, Kra. I’ll text you all later.”

“What are you whispering about?” Jay yelled across the room.

“Nothing!” Cebrua yelled back. “Do your algebra!”

Jay murmured something, Dae laughed, and the grown ups relaxed back into their seats, smiling. They were going to make sure Jay had the best birthday ever.