horrible cold

[warmfeelings]

Chelsa buries herself in her friends, and the warmth of the world that Harley isn't on anymore. She doesn't understand him. She never will. But there's Corona, sun-scorching and intense; there's Amdon, her oldest and closest; there's Anneia, sweet and smiling; there's Sandre, cuddly and fun; there's Tima, pretty-kindling and empathetic; there's Pacco, bright and deferent; there's Jony, hot as a kiln; Lionara hot as molten glass. And Aelise herself, who makes so many compromises but who does love Chelsa after all.

Harley wasn't like that one cold, cold girl, who - she wasn't even technically a sociopath. Sociopaths kindle like everyone else. She was just - cold. Like an airless environment in which no fire can burn.

But Aelise had her killed, and Chelsa made sure no one would miss her, and if anything like that ever happened again, Chelsa has every confidence that Aelise would make it right. Harley's one thing. He can just be - out of sight, out of mind. Aelise would never expect Chelsa to compromise on the existence of such a terrible cold.

Comments

[salus_populi]

"True. But on the other hand, it's not nice to be disappointed because you didn't solve a complicated problem unreasonably fast."

[alicornucopia]

"Being disappointed would waste time," Mehitabel says after a moment's thought. "So I won't do it, at least not very much."

[salus_populi]

"That's good."

[alicornucopia]

"Yes," agrees Mehitabel.

And finally she has seen all of the Earth she wishes to behold just now, and she sets about finishing her book while they wait for Kers.

[queensidecastle]

Kers shows up just before the end of the book.

[alicornucopia]

"Hello," says Mehitabel politely. "I'm a secret. Are you Kers?"

[queensidecastle]

"I am Kers," she says. "And you're Mehitabel."

[alicornucopia]

"Yes. I'm not a secret from you," says Mehitabel.

[queensidecastle]

"Correct."

[alicornucopia]

"I am supposed to live secretly up here and figure out how to fix the world," Mehitabel says.

[queensidecastle]

"Yes, you are," says Kers. "Want a tour?"

[alicornucopia]

"Yes please," says Mehitabel.

[queensidecastle]

"It's a deal. C'mon."

And with a perfunctory wave to Aelise, Kers leads Mehitabel out of the windowed room and into the rest of the orbital ring.

[alicornucopia]

Mehitabel is duly fascinated by all the intricacies of her new home.

[queensidecastle]

There's a lot of it, even counting only the parts they visit, and none of the gravity-free sections that Kers points out but doesn't enter. There are more windows, some looking down, some looking up. There are long corridors. Lots and lots of long corridors. There is a magnetic train suspended in a vacuum tunnel, for getting from place to place on the ring quickly; in fact there are four such tunnels and a considerable number of individual train cars.

And there are living quarters, which is where they end up.

[alicornucopia]

"Where will I stay?" asks Mehitabel.

[queensidecastle]

"Anywhere you want," says Kers. "Well, anywhere that's not section 214, because there's another secret living in that one. But that's miles away. Right now, I'm in this room," she indicates a door, "and you can pick any other room on this hallway."

[alicornucopia]

"Okay." Mehitabel evaluates the rooms, one at a time, in case they have salient differences. "Are you supposed to tell me which section the other secret is in?"

[queensidecastle]

"How else are you going to know to stay out of it?"

[alicornucopia]

"By it being miles away," suggests Mehitabel.

[queensidecastle]

"'Miles away' isn't as much of a barrier as it sounds like, up here."

[alicornucopia]

"Because of the train," Mehitabel surmises.

[queensidecastle]

"Yep!"

[alicornucopia]

"Okay. Why is the other secret a secret?"

[queensidecastle]