Starfire

I was liking Captain Prichard more by the second. In the span of a few minutes, he had settled the whole group in his office, gotten Orion’s entire life story out of him, casually made friends with his dog, and had procured a bowl of stew from seemingly nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed how thin Orion was until he practically inhaled the stew. Prichard refilled the bowl as he spoke.

“So, you lost your family to illness, and when Tristan and Virgil came to loot the houses of plague victims, they found you and more or less forced you into servitude. You went along because you thought you had no better options, right?”

“Yes sir. I lacked the skills to survive. I’ve learned a lot since then. No thanks to them.”

He practically spat the last word, and unconsciously reached for Sirius, who leaned against him as he continued.

“I could have left them long ago. They’re spineless cowards. All I had to do was stand up to them just one time and I would have been free.”

His voice was thick with self-reproach. The captain hummed thoughtfully.

“Seems to me you did just that today.”

Orion stared into his bowl, still radiating regret. Eva grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Hey! Don’t you dare beat yourself up, you won today, you should be celebrating! You’re free!”

Asa placed a hand gently on Orion’s other shoulder.

“You did the best you could, with no guidance and with two very poor role models in those men. No matter what you think of yourself right now, I know your parents would be proud.”

And just like that, Orion was crying. As Eva and Asa tried to comfort him, he managed to mumble between sobs, “Aren’t I under arrest?”

Prichard laughed heartily at that. “No kid, we technically can’t prove you were poaching last night. Just make sure to get a hunting license and you’ll be fine.”

Alexandros spoke up. “And if Virgil or Tristan ever bother you again, don’t hesitate to tell us, alright?”

Sigrid smiled ferociously at that.

In a chaotic rush, Prichard went off to get some type of identification paperwork sorted out for Orion and I, since he had lost his and I had none whatsoever. Eva ran out with Asa in tow, yelling over her shoulder that they’d find a job for Orion. Alexandros and Sigrid didn’t say where they were going, but they shared a look and a nod before heading out like they were on a mission.

And just like, I was alone with Orion and his dog, Sirius.

I really wanted to pet Sirius.

But I was distracted by the dazed look on Orion’s face. And the still-copious amounts of tears and snot on it, despite Eva and Asa both sacrificing their handkerchiefs to his flood of tears. I found a crumpled handkerchief in the pocket of my borrowed dress and offered it to him. He took it and blew his nose noisily. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

There was a pause, and I fought the reflex to immediately fill the silence. But as he snuck a nervous sideways glance at me, I realized that he was stuck alone with a girl he found yesterday in a flaming crater; some normal conversation might help him see me in a less dramatic light. But could I make normal conversation?

No. No I could not. But then again, nothing about this situation was normal. I had to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“They’re overwhelming, aren’t they? Eva, the captain, all of them.”

His laugh was weak, little more than a huff of air.

“Yeah. They are.”

I had been standing due to limited chairs in the office, but now I walked over to the desk and sat on its edge. I had always wanted to do that in my old world, but had never quite dared. It seemed such a powerfully casual move.

“When I arrived last night, Eva didn’t hesitate to open her home to me. She handed me a new life like it was nothing, as natural as breathing. And Asa, even though I just met him today, he seems to sense wounds I didn’t know I had. Just now, he knew exactly what you needed to hear, didn’t he?”

Orion nodded.

“I only just met Alexandros and Sigrid right before you showed up, but I can tell they would gladly help me face any kind of trouble. But…”

I swung my feet a little, back and forth, and Orion finally looked up from the now rather gross handkerchiefs.

“…how do you respond to such generosity? When you’re too stunned and numb to even feel grateful just yet?”

For a moment I feared I was projecting my own feelings onto him. I stopped swinging my feet. Orion looked into my eyes. His were such a pure black, the opposite of light pollution. Although would a truly untainted sky be black or a deep, deep blue?

“Blue.” Orion whispered.

I blinked in surprise. What?

He blushed a little and stammered. “Sorry, it’s just, your eyes are an interesting shade of blue, I can’t tell what shade exactly.”

Blue eyes? That was new. I wondered if my eyes shifted like Eva’s.

“Your fire was blue too.”

At the mention of my fire, we both fell silent. I wrestled with the vague feeling that somehow I had done something wrong.

“May I see it again? Your fire?’

The feeling was squashed like a bug, only to be reincarnated into nervousness that I was about to do something wrong. I didn’t want to deny his request, but could I summon that fire again? Was it even possible?

I held a hand up to my face, fingers spread, trying to remember the feeling of ribbonlike flames weaving between them. It was an oddly refreshing warmth, I recalled, but I felt like I was reaching for the wrong thing. I dug deeper. I thought of Eva and how her presence made my heart feel warm. I thought of Asa and how in the very short time I had known him, he had soothed me in ways I hadn’t thought possible. I thought of Alexandros and how he immediately made me feel safe. I thought of Sigrid and how she made me feel able to face any foe.

And I thought of Orion, who seemed as much at a loss as I was on what to do with being ambushed by near-painful hope.

Some thin thread running throughout these thoughts and feelings tightened, and I pulled it.

A tiny spark appeared in my palm.

I gasped. Orion leaned forward, and instinctively I did too, trying to truly share this moment with him.

I tried to tell myself it was a good moment. And for once, I believed it.