Dinner For Two
By Laura Schiller
Based on: Lunar Chronicles
Copyright: Marissa Meyer
Scarlet looked just as terrible as Cinder had expected: curled up on her bunk bed, her signature red hair tangled like a rat's nest, her face blotchy from hours of crying. She glowered at the intruder in her new cabin out of red-rimmed brown eyes.
"You, um … you didn't come down for dinner," she said gruffly, holding up a foil-covered tray. "Thorne's a lousy cook, but even he knows how to use a microwave. I thought … "
"I'm not hungry," Scarlet croaked, letting her curls fall forward to hide her eyes.
"Right." Cinder could not prevent a hint of skepticism from showing in her voice. Several days in captivity, probably fed on bread and water, and she wasn't hungry?
Sympathy warred with awkwardness as she hovered in front of Scarlet's bunk, undecided whether to stay or go. On the one hand, while she may have saved this girl's life, they hardly knew each other, and their one major conversation had included some pretty harsh things said on both sides. On the other hand …
Inching closer, Cinder caught sight of a portscreen Scarlet was holding. It showed a photograph of a fit, silver-haired woman standing next to a harvesting android in front of a field of golden grain. The android was painted bright red, work-worn but, to Cinder's practiced eye, in excellent condition. The woman was tanned and laughing, one hand up to shade her eyes from the sun. The sky above her was a clear, bright blue, with barely a cloud to be seen, stretching endlessly toward a distant horizon.
Without meaning to, Cinder took a long, deep breath. Instead of fresh air and grain, however, all she could smell was machine oil and reheated curry.
"Hey, that's private," Scarlet snapped, shutting off her port and clutching it to her chest. "I don't need your pity, princess. Go away."
Princess? Cinder turned her back on Scarlet, pulled a small retractable table out of the wall with one hand, slammed the food tray on top of it, and whrled back around to glare at her insufferable crewmate. She had tried being nice, but if brutal honesty was what Scarlet wanted, she could be brutal too.
"Good stars, Benoit, you think I pity you? I'd switch places with you in a heartbeat if I could!"
"What?" Scarlet jumped to her feet. She was half a head taller and much curvier than Cinder, which, combined with her attitude, made the cabin feel claustrophobically small. "Is your control panel malfunctioning or something? Does being imprisoned, manipulated, and almost eaten by a pack of crazy Lunars, finding out how they tortured the only family you care about and watching her die right in front of you sound like a fun vacation to you?"
"At least you had a family!"
Cinder screamed it without thinking, but regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. She barely recognized the shrillness of her own voice. Part of her cringed at the possibility of Thorne or Wolf hearing her through the walls; the rest of her watched with shame and concern as the color began to fade from Scarlet's face and her brown eyes widened with horrified understanding.
Slowly, cautiously, Scarlet sat back down on her bunk.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I didn't think … oh, sacre bleu, I'm sorry."
Cinder flushed. It was her turn to feel embarrassed by pity. She realized, wryly, that she and Scarlet were much more alike than she had realized.
"I - I'm fine," she hurried to say. "I'm not a basket case or anything, whatever Thorne might say. I've got him, I've got Iko - " She patted a nearby wall; the lights in the room flickered happily in response. "And before she passed away, I had a younger stepsister who was the sweetest human being I've ever known." She swallowed a lump in her throat, remembering the ID chip she'd had to leave so disrespectfully in a random field.
"My point is," she continued, still blushing, unused to saying sentimental things like this. "I know I'm not alone. And if you think about it, neither are you."
Scarlet's face softened as she gazed up at Cinder, looking very young, for all that she was about a year older.
"I must seem so weak to you," she said ruefully, as if reading Cinder's. "You've lost so much, and I … I can't lose one person without breaking down."
"I didn't mean to give you that impression," Cinder replied, sitting down next to her on the bunk. "I just lost my temper back there. Forget what I said, okay? I shouldn't have said that. Losses don't stack up that way, one against the other. Losing one person can feel like losing everything."
Scarlet only nodded, reached for the food tray on the table, and began to eat.
They sat together quietly for a while, Cinder watching as Scarlet made her slow and steady way through the curried beef and vegetables with a plastic fork. When she made a silent offer to share, Cinder picked up a slice of flatbread and began sopping up the sauce.
It reminded her of those rare nights in the Linh apartment when Adri and Pearl had gone to attend some classical concert or Noh drama that Peony found 'boring', coaxing her mother to let her stay home with Cinder and Iko. They'd eaten in front of the netscreen, trays on their knees, stealing forkfuls of each other's food, watching cheesy romantic comedies that Cinder always made fun of, but secretly enjoyed …
Cinder smiled, even as her eyes stung all over again.
"She would have liked you. My stepsister, I mean. She would have been amazed by the way you jumped right into the action and helped us get back to the ship. Not to mention the way you got through to Wolf."
"Really?"
"Yeah. And then she'd want to know what it's like to kiss a guy with fangs."
Scarlet giggled and punched Cinder on the arm, making her laugh with surprise.
"Hey, I'm not the one who's asking!"
"Well," Scarlet replied, once they had both calmed down, "I think my grand-mere would have liked you too. She always… admired," Scarlet's voice wavered over the past tense, "Strong women like her."
"You must take after her," said Cinder, meaning it.
Scarlet's redhead complexion lit up again, this time with joy and pride.
"That's one of the best things anyone has ever said to me," she said softly. "Thanks."
She remembered Scarlet shooting that thaumaturge in the chest, just a few hours ago, not hesitating to do what must be done to help them all escape. Scarlet bluntly knocking some sense into her on the subject of her royal identity: My grandmother didn't die so you could hide away like a coward! Reckless, hotheaded, overly emotional, yes – but also one of the strongest people Cinder had ever met.
She would be proud to count this woman as a friend … and judging by the warm smile on her face, Scarlet felt the same way.