After a week back in the East, she cuts her hair. Her head feels unnaturally light after watching the blond locks fall to the tiled floor of the salon, and she likes it. It feels like going back in time, like she's young and home from the war, like she can start anew and live everything over again.
When the Brigadier General asks, she says instead, "It was getting in the way when I changed the bandages on my shoulder."
He hums a tone of understanding, brushing away a loose end from the scar proudly made visible on her throat.