Getting dressed.

Clothes zipped up, and fitting how they were meant to. It was so relieving. It felt right.

He aimlessly ran a hand over the good luck charm.

... He'd have to thank them. The cadet girls from Thrace. The one that gave him the charm. He hadn't realized that anyone other than Neda had been paying attention to him, before then.

... Not that Neda had ever really paid him the attention he had wanted.

But who could look at a pitiful little girl like that and feel that way?

Mouth dry.

He drank a cup of water, sweet and thin and faintly blue.

" Kaama," he called.

" Yes?"

" Do you want to come to DASS with us?" he asked.

Kaama gave him a look.

" ... Of course not. I have much more freedom here, while Ly- while Lyewa-Nova is away."

" ... I suppose so."

" Are you nervous about fighting him?"

" I'm always nervous, Kaama. It's part of who I am."

" ... I understand that."