Instead of getting swept up in the excited mood around her, Nina instead analyzed Reina’s decision and came to see how her idea would actually work. She had been concerned that having members of The Cloud Orchestra walking around in JE-22 could potentially end up leading back to her, but this plan solved the problem. If they dropped below for a series of jobs, the entire team besides Euris would disappear from the city and wouldn’t be back for weeks. The people who knew where their office was were close enough acquaintances to feign ignorance over who they were, and by the time they returned, the situation should have settled.

Killing two birds with one stone, it seemed. Reina was planning on evading the SuTSU sweep and clearing her list of jobs at the same time. Nina liked that, but she was still apprehensive about their drop. They would be traveling through environments that she was unfamiliar with all over again just as she had started to learn a little about Luem. There was, however, one very important factor for her that was a shining light amongst an uncomfortably large number of uncertainties.

To return to this plate they would have to pass through Caecus. She would be passing home.

If they were passing through Caecus, she knew that she would have an opportunity. She didn’t know how the opportunity would present itself, but it would be there if she was alert and was ready with a plan. Reina had said that she would be allowed to return in her own time once she had paid off her debt, but what was stopping her from disappearing earlier? She had come to like the people at The Cloud Orchestra over the short period of time they had spent together, but was this really her?

Maybe she would leave, maybe she wouldn’t. She did, however, need to have a plan in case the opportunity was there to take. She knew that whatever feelings she had would probably be thrown out the window once her feet touched down on Caecus, but she could try and factor that in. She thought about the cool air and the icy black river, about the morning jostle on the way to work. People would say that she was downgrading, going back to the simple life of greys that she had before, but wasn’t that stability what she had craved?

“Pumped?” Svanda asked as the three glanced at Nina. She had lost herself in her own world for a moment, but shook it off as she managed a smile.

“Yeah, it will be nice to see some new places and get away from SuTSU.”

It was a weak response, but everyone knew that there was a lot on her mind right now. They looked at her with reassuring smiles, but little did they know she was planning how to run away from it all. Reina was smart enough to have considered it, but Nina knew that she didn’t have a choice but to place a certain level of trust in her. What Nina would do with that trust was yet to be seen, so Reina would probably be keeping a close eye on her.

“So what did you talk about with Alan?” Trim asked as she sat back down, looking in Reina’s direction. “I’m assuming that the issue is fixed now that you’ve declared that we’re good to go.”

Reina glanced at Nina, who shied away after being outed as the source of speculation. “We lined a route up. It was expensive, but it’s necessary unless you feel like dodging a pulse barrage or ten from the Skywall.”

“Yeah, no thanks,” Trim sighed. “So Alan is helping you haul stuff for Julia? There’s some conflict there, right?”

“Nothing that Julia has to know about,” Reina smiled as she finished her tea before standing up. “She said that it was our job to sort it out, and that’s what we’re doing. Our cut will be pretty lousy in the end but I’ll consider it an investment into working with Alan in the future.” Trim and Nina watched as she headed for the stairs with Svanda falling in behind her. “Get yourselves ready for when we leave. And no Nina, don’t pack like this is a holiday, we travel light.”

Nina watched as she descended the stairs before turning to Trim. “What, I can’t even bring a change of clothes?”

“No bags,” Trim smiled. “If you can’t fit it in your pocket, don’t take it. Don’t worry, we have safehouses on most of the plates where there are supplies and facilities.”

Nina was unimpressed. Traveling light was smart, but you had to draw the line somewhere. She could live with wearing the same jacket, but there were small necessities like toiletries and underwear that she wouldn’t feel comfortable going without. It just wasn’t the same if you borrowed them or used something from a store room. She thought about raising a complaint and was about to stand up when a small backpack landed in her lap. Calling it a backpack may have been generous actually, as it looked as though it couldn’t carry much at all. It was entirely black, with a single zip at the top and two thin straps that would run over her shoulders.

“The first trip bag,” Svanda said. She had appeared at the top of the stairs and nodded in the direction of the bag. “You can only take it once, so don’t think about using it next time. Take things that you want to leave at the safehouses along the way.”

Nina looked over at Trim to see that she was chuckling. She had been played, it seemed. Moving her attention to the bag, she opened the top and placed her hand inside to get a feel for the space she would have to work with. After concluding that there wasn’t much space at all, she set the bag down before thinking about what she would take.

“Why can’t we all take small bags like this?” she asked.

“Reina’s rule,” Trim replied. “You can do some of your own shopping on the other plates, Reina likes the mobility.”

“You consider flying through the sky with a stereo on your shoulder travelling light?”

“It’s tactical.”

Nina thought about asking how exactly a portable stereo was tactical, but decided to let it go. She didn’t need the explanation and she didn’t know how long it would keep Trim talking either. It was better to change her approach.

“What did you take when you had the bag?”

“Headphones,” Trim said as she stood up and stifled a yawn. “I took a pair to leave at one stop because I didn’t know if they would sell anything good down there. I can carry memory sticks in my pockets.”

Nina sighed. She wasn’t even surprised. “You didn’t take any clothing?”

“I did,” Trim said. “I used them as protection for my headphones.”

Nodding in response, Nina began to think about how she would fill the bag. It was tiny, really, almost like a small hydration pack that a cyclist would wear. Even fitting in what she would consider basic necessities for a few days would be a challenge, but it seemed that this was all she would be getting.

“Speaking of phones, I’ll ask Reina to sort one out for you,” Trim said as she stood up. “Don’t expect anything fancy.”

“Thanks,” Nina smiled before pointing in the direction of the hall. “I’m going to go and see what stuff I need to get into this bag.”

Trim smiled before disappearing down the stairs to the office, with Nina heading in the opposite direction to her room. After closing the door, she tossed the bag onto her bed before sitting down. What had initially seemed like a relaxed morning had turned into a rollercoaster ride and she hadn’t even had time to strap herself in. The wanted poster was still lingering in the back of her mind but she knew that she would have to block it out and just keep moving without dwelling on the problem.

Reina had told her before she joined The Cloud Orchestra that she could show her the world, and it seemed that she had been speaking the truth. The problem was that Reina hadn’t told her that they would be doing it while armed to the teeth. Would they be passing through hostile territory? People like to travel, but they like to travel to beaches or to places of cultural significance, not a war zone. She rued her decision to dive into the new world of fiction from Luem instead of reading something more practical. It had been a great release, but now it looked like she probably should have spent a little effort learning more about the worlds below her.

Thinking that there was no use crying over spilt milk, she decided to read first and pack later. It was early so she had the day to prepare, assuming that Reina didn’t take up any of her time by asking her to run errands or cook. The former probably wouldn’t happen because leaving the building with the wanted poster out there wasn’t the smartest idea. As for the latter, she would just have to cross her fingers.

Digging through the pile of books that sat in the corner of her room, she pulled out one of the larger ones. Titled ‘The Seven Plates,’ it seemed like this was a good place to start. She had five plates to learn about, considering that learning more about Neo Luesa could wait for later and that she already knew enough about Caecus.

“Nina, can I come in?”

Already standing in the corner near the door, Nina opened it to find Reina standing before her. She hadn’t changed, but she had dropped her lab coat which left the simple white tank top she was wearing underneath exposed.

“Sure,” she replied as she stepped to the side to let her past, closing the door behind her. She watched as Reina’s gaze flicked from the stack of books in the corner to the open wardrobe before flopping down on her bed. It was strange to see her like this, without her coat that seemed to keep her guarded and without the knowing smile on her face. Reina was her boss, but right now she looked like a friend who had been invited over for a pajama party.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said to break the silence. Nina hadn’t been expecting an apology, but she didn’t know what exactly it was for either. There were a million reasons why Reina could be apologizing right now - for bringing her here in the first place, for sending her on a job that had left her a high priority target, or for anything in between. The strangest thing for Nina was that she felt like apologizing for any of that wasn’t something that she needed to do. She disagreed with some of it and had certainly been thrown out of her comfort zone, but Reina’s intentions had always been for her benefit.

“It’s fine.” Nina didn’t know what exactly Reina was apologizing for, but the response would catch everything. She would simply press onwards because she didn’t have a choice.

“It isn’t fine,” Reina replied. Her voice was quiet, almost unsure. Nina had never seen Reina crack or even show a shred of vulnerability, but now as she sat there on the bed it was as though she was showing a side that she hadn’t seen before.

“I’m sorry about Saela,” she continued with a sigh. “I know that she has a problem, and I feel like you’re owed some answers.”

There are a lot of questions that I’d like answered, Nina thought.

“You just need to understand a little about her,” Reina began.