Fifteen minutes later, Lola sat back in her chair contentedly, stomach full. Danae was still eating, nibbling haphazardly on her pancakes. She lifted an elegant ebony hand and twisted her fingers, beckoning the crows over. They cawed as they flew over, swooping down to hop around on the pavement. Danae tore off two small pieces of pancake and tossed them down onto the pavement. Rova and Dulun hopped over and began to poke curiously at the pancake bits, croaking happily.

Lola’s brow furrowed as she looked at the two crows. “How do you tell them apart? I’m sorry, I just can’t figure out which is which!” she said, with a slightly self-deprecating laugh.

Danae blinked owlishly. “I suppose… I’ve never really thought about it? I can just… tell, I think.” She peered at her crows, as if seeing them in a new light. “That one is Rova,” she said, pointing to the one with its beak currently stuck in a pancake chunk, “and that one is Dulun,” she finished, pointing to the crow perching a few feet away on the curb.

Now it was Lola’s turn to peer at the crows inquisitively. She squinted at them for a moment, eyes scanning over every inch of their sleek black feathers. Eventually, she had to shake her head in defeat. “Nope, I still can’t tell.” She almost felt a bit ashamed about it, even though she couldn’t reasonably be expected to tell the difference between two nearly-identical (horrible) birds.

Danae let out a breathy laugh. “That’s perfectly alright. I’m sure they don’t mind it too much, and perhaps after time it will become easier.” Lola’s emotions did a strange little twist at that, at the insinuation of spending more time together, but she ignored it, electing instead to glare back at the crows, whose twin sets of beady eyes were staring at her with an expression of pure unfiltered malice.

“What are you planning on doing for the rest of the day?” Danae asked, propping up her chin on her hand as she leaned over the table.

“Well… there’s a few things.” Lola ticked off the items of the list on her fingers as she spoke, “I’d like to meet back up with Cato and figure out all this Vers Ibrae... stuff, but I have to run a few errands first- I need to buy groceries, and the shelf in my bathroom broke and the lightbulbs are burnt out so I need to swing by the hardware store too… then I’ll probably check in with Cato and his family, and Kezi too...” She let out a rather stressed sigh.

Danae looked at her consideringly. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you with all of this. You have shown me so much kindness, I would be glad to do anything to help you in return.”

“Aw, uh, thanks,” Lola replied, feeling a bit flustered. “It’s really no big deal, but I’ll keep your offer in mind!”

At that moment, the waiter came by with the bill, and Lola passed him her card. She glanced at Danae, pointing to the remnants of the other woman’s pancakes. “Do you think you’re gonna eat the rest of this, or should we get a to-go box?”

Danae shrugged. “To-go is fine.”

Later, after the waiter had returned and they’d packed up the food, the two of them walked down to the subway station together. Danae was holding a stack of two to-go boxes in her arms, and Lola knew that the two crows were following them high above the streets somewhere. The commotion of the city surrounded them, the subway station positively crowded to the brim with people.

She looked over at Danae. The Crow Queen’s gaze was focused straight ahead as she deftly maneuvered through the crowd, her lips pursed in concentration. Her expression was what Lola was coming to see as her default look, regal and completely inscrutable.

Not for the first time that day, Lola had a moment of self-reflection. For all intents and purposes, Danae was a stranger to her. Probably any other person would have… well, not let a total stranger stay in their apartment, for starters, and probably not then take said stranger out to breakfast. Lola wanted to insist to herself that she was doing it because Danae needed her help, but if she was honest with herself, from what she’d seen, Danae was capable of taking care of herself on her own. Lola had no idea how long Danae had been wandering by herself, after all, and her gut instinct told her that- knowing spirits- it was probably a long, long time.

The two of them boarded the subway car together. Danae took a seat, setting the boxes on her lap, and Lola stood, hand reaching up to hold onto a strap for balance as the car began to move.

Was she really going to take Danae back to her apartment yet again? How long was she going to let Danae stay? Lola let out a heavy breath. Admittedly, it was probably good to think about this now, before she got in too deep. Lola was not usually in the habit of trusting strangers- lest anyone get the wrong impression- but she just couldn’t shake the feeling that Danae was someone worthy of trust.

After mulling it over in her mind for a minute or two, Lola came to a decision. She’d offer to let Danae stay for the next few days, and then they could reassess. After all, things were changing so quickly. Who knew what the next few days would bring? And she would feel better if she knew that Danae was safe and had a place to sleep.

With that decided, she turned to Danae. “I think I’m gonna go run errands once we get back to the apartment. You’re welcome to come with me if you’d like!”

Danae hesitated. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother…”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. It would be nice to have some company!”

“In that case, I shall accompany you.”

Lola couldn’t keep a quick smile from flashing across her face. Then, she considered something, and added, “You’ll have to leave Rova and Dulun behind, though. I don’t think the grocery store allows birds.”