Chapter 2

“You got burned?”, she asked me quietly as we walked, disturbing my thoughts.

All stinkers were sensitive to Tau, so she was probably seeing what was happening better than I was. I shrugged, hoping she would stay quiet, but she didn't.

“You shouldn’t use magic in those clothes. They disturb the flow and make you ungrounded”, she continued with a serious tone.

“If I’d had my suit on, I’d been fine”, I frowned.

The burning sensation had subsided, but the whole event had left me in a foul mood.

“They make you slow…”, she added.

“How would you know?”

I glared at her

“Mai’Ri told me…”, she whispered, and her ears drooped.

Annoying brat, but it didn’t matter. Their over-reliance on Tau was their demise. Sure, they could cast barriers faster than us, but not fast enough to stop the tungsten core propelled by the secondary charge, and their flimsy armour had no way of stopping that. We adapted faster than them, we won…

“Look!”

She leapt up and levitated in the air next to me.

“Useless trick”

“But I didn’t get burned”, she pouted as her feet touched the ground again.

I ignored her and glanced ahead. We were almost there.

“Does this look familiar?”

“It does!”, she beamed.

Finally.

“An’Ri!”

A woman ran towards us, her tail flaying behind her.

“What have you done? You’ve been gone for so long.”

She crouched down by the girl and pressed her forehead to hers.

“I was worried.”

“I met a friend and got us some food.”

The girl beamed and pulled the snack bar from her pocket.

“An’Ri…”

The woman shook her head and glanced at me, and only then did she notice my uniform. She got up, her ears flat against her head.

I shifted my weight to my back leg and lowered my chin. I knew the meaning behind those tattoos covering her face, I had seen them too many times. The stinkers were proud, carrying the marks of their victories on their faces for everyone to see, a custom that eventually spread to our forces. Even the senile Major marked his victories on his skin.

Silently, we studied each other's faces, weighing our chances, when the girl interrupted,

“She is a friend… She helped me, so I didn’t get into trouble.”

The woman slowly relaxed and nodded.

“Then, I suppose…thank you.”

I shrugged.

“Be careful. Next time, she may not get so lucky.”, I said.

I turned and walked towards my block. It was newly built but had mostly stayed vacant, even as the original city dwellers slowly returned to the once-evacuated city. The flats were small and cramped, built with speed in mind, not comfort or beauty. But I didn’t mind it, it had been closer to work than any other accommodation could offer when I took the assignment, so the choice had been simple.

I frowned. I could hear their soft footsteps close behind me. I didn’t really hate stinkers, but having them as neighbours was another matter. Throughout the war, I had maybe met five that hadn’t tried to kill me, and old habits didn’t die easily.

“You shouldn’t talk to strangers….”

“But you told me we should find some friends…”

“Yes, but not like this…”

“But she helped…”

I could hear their hushed voices behind me as we walked, but I stopped paying attention to what they were saying. I knew that after touching Tau, I’d have another sleepless night filled with silence ahead of me. Maybe taking this assignment had been a mistake. At the base, I could always find something to do, but here….

They followed me to the entrance. Fuck, did they live here too? I saw the older one fumbling with her keys. Great. I sighed and held the door open.

“Do you live here too?”, the girl asked, and I nodded without looking at her.

“Where?”

I pointed up and started climbing the stairs. I’d had enough of stupid questions and was sure that if I stayed any longer, more would come. I stopped at my door, and to my dismay, they halted by the one next to me. Why, from all those empty flats, had they been given the one next to mine? Yet another proof of how incompetent the civis were. I wonder what would come next.

“Fu’Ri…”

The girl looked at me.

“Come, we can help you with your burns.”

I looked at them with a frown. At least the older one seemed as excited about the idea as I was. Great, finally we had something in common. 5 points to the Unity team.

“I am fine.”

I went inside and closed the door behind me. Shower. It was the only thing that ever worked against Tau burns. I grabbed a pack of vitamins from the shelf and washed them down with an iso drink. It was supposed to help as well, but it never did. At least it didn’t make it worse, so why not?

I stripped off my clothes and threw them into the laundry. Living at the base had its benefits. Now, that I had my own flat, all those mundane things like laundry and cooking were on me. MREs were the obvious solution for food, but I still needed to find a way with laundry.

I stepped into the shower. Hot or cold…? Relax or morale…? Fuck, I needed both. I shivered when the cold water hit my body, but it cleared my mind, so it was worth it.

Once I was done, I put on sweatpants and a t-shirt and sank into the sofa. What now? I glanced at the TV, but I knew it was pointless to watch anything. At least during the war, the propaganda was somewhat entertaining, but now, with what the civis put on air, it was just pure cringe.

It would be a long night, and I was already becoming restless. My defence mechanism against stillness, which always brought unwanted thoughts, was kicking in. I got up and stretched myself. Maybe I should go for a run? No, later… I opened the sliding door to the balcony and looked out into the night. Only the distant harbour lights shone in the darkness, and stillness filled the air. I stepped out, trying to shake off my restlessness. The ceramic tiles were still warm under my feet after the day of bathing in the sunlight.

That’s when I saw them. Our flats shared the balcony, divided in half by a low metal gate that didn’t offer any privacy, but until now, I hadn’t cared about it, since the other flat stayed empty.

“Fu’Ri”, the girl called and ran to the gate that separated us.

So it had some use in the end.

“Come, we're celebrating moving in.”

She pulled on the lock, but the gate stayed closed, and I didn’t plan to explain to her how the keys worked. If they had missed that lesson in the unity camp, it was their problem, not mine. The older one walked over to us and put her arms around the girl.

“Things are different here…”, she said quietly, and her ears drooped a bit.

“But we can bring together the best each world has to offer”, the girl chirped and gave me a smile.

I sighed. Even the stinkers believed in that crap. Unity… A fantastic way to waste taxpayers' money. Well done, civis.

“Maybe…”, the older one said without enthusiasm.

So at least she could think for herself. Not bad.

“Let’s try!”, the girl quipped.

Her tail began to wag with excitement as she told me about their customs. I neither listened to it nor cared about her words, but it was still better than the silence of my flat, so I stayed, leaning against the wall and gazing into the night.

The older one left, but soon returned, carrying a small tray with three glasses filled with a dark liquid. I glanced at her, but she avoided my gaze. I was sure she only did it for the girl’s sake.

I took one of the glasses over the gate. It was tall and surprisingly heavy, cut from crystal rather than made of glass. It must have come from the other side.

“It’s green-green so you can drink it…”

I took a sip. It tasted better than it looked, but it didn’t mean it was good. The woman sat down, resting her back against the wall, and I followed her lead on the other side of the gate. The girl sat down between her legs and closed her eyes. Silence filled the air, but it was somehow different, and it didn’t bring too many unwanted thoughts.

I glanced at them through the metal bars that made up the gate. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to have them living next door…