It was late at night, and Liraz couldn't sleep. Again.

She wished it could be the rough, jagged rock beneath her that prevented her from sleeping, but if only it were that simple. After sleeping in the rock-hard barracks set aside for the Misbegotten for years, any surface could seem comfortable to her, and indeed, the ground didn't feel that bad.

It was simply the fact that she couldn't turn her mind off.

Beside her, Akiva slept peacefully, his wings facing her, extended in sleep. She had long since gotten used to having others' feathers brush against her when she tried to sleep, and indeed, there was something vaguely comforting about the way her brother's wings seemed to reach out to grasp her. It was odd, she thought, because Akiva had never been an easy sleeper. He'd had a tendency to get nightmares when they were very young, which benefited no one. That had dwindled off over the years, but it was still rare to see him sleep a whole night without any disturbances.

At least, until after Madrigal happened. Then his sleeping patterns had screwed up again.

The caves seemed oddly silent, for being shared between, what, hundreds of soldiers? Silence was another thing Liraz wasn't used to. Only the sounds of her brother's breathing reached her ears.

The longer she lie there, the more restless Liraz became. Staring at a cave wall wasn't terribly exciting, and she didn't like to let her mind wander anymore. Not since- all of that had happened. Whenever there was nothing for her to busy herself with, her thoughts always drifted to back that day. That one, dreadful day.

How Hazael could have been alive if it weren't for her. The moment that she showed weakness to the one person she swore she wouldn't forgive.

But had she forgiven her?

Liraz honestly didn't know how she felt about Karou. On one hand, she couldn't help but admire the blue-haired girl, simply for all she had endured. She could see the bruises on her arms, still swollen and angry even though the resurrections had been sparse, and there was still the way she looked at the White Wolf with such alarm that Liraz couldn't help but pity her.

But of course there was all she had done to Akiva, and that was the reason why Liraz made her glances at the girl as quick and unnoticeable as possible.

She sat up. The darkness except for wings that were dulled with sleep, the silence, the pitiful smallness of the caves: all of them were starting to get to her. The past few days, she'd been up like this, and it was grating her like mad. Quietly, slowly, she stood up, bracing her arm against the wall for guidance.

And, unsteadily, she walked.

On the first day, Karou had warned all of them against venturing too far into the caves.

"I don't exactly know how deep they are, and none of us are familiar with the layout here. If you get lost, you're… probably out of luck," she had said, a hint of sadness in her voice. It was odd, but at the end of the sentence, Liraz had noticed Karou's gaze flickering, just briefly, to Thiago.

She followed the wall completely, her mind focusing only on her right foot moving forward, then her left, then her right, breathe in, breathe out, right, left, in, out. In the distance, she could see a dim light, and, even though it probably wasn't the best decision, she followed it.

The narrow walls opened up to a large, round area. From the light of the dim fire in the center, she could see many other passages feeding into this one room. It must have been used for some sort of gathering place, Liraz thought. It was certainly large enough to hold a gathering of people.

There was someone sitting beside the fire, knees drawn up, simply staring at it. At first, Liraz couldn't tell who it was, but when she got close enough to see the hair, it was obvious who it was.

"Karou? What are you doing out here?" The words escape her mouth before she has time to think about them. Not that she regrets her wording, but in no way did she plan to say what she had said.

"I couldn't sleep," Karou said, softly. "Too much on my mind. I'm assuming that's your problem, too?" Her voice is quiet, but the walls of the cavern echoed her words infinitely, leading to a strange sort of harmony forming upon itself.

Liraz didn't answer.

"I don't think the caves are really helping. I mean, I'm sort of used to them, and I guess the Madrigal part of me really likes this, but… there's not exactly any place for you to be alone here. And I guess they could feel a little constricting. Do you agree with me?"

"Yes," the blonde said, finally. "Yes, I do."

Liraz bit her lips. On one hand, Karou was the last person she wanted to be talking to. Liraz admired the girl, in a way; she couldn't deny that. She admired her for still being strong after her circumstances, and she admired her for giving Akiva that brief period of happiness, and she admired her for her resurrection and the bruises on her arms and the sadness in her eyes, but she hated her for at precisely the same reasons.

And, looking at Karou, she couldn't help her mind from flashing back to that one night, with tears shed with a body between her, of her crying, begging for Hazael's life with a chimaera girl, and of Thiago and the terror that ran through her when she saw him, especially when she realized what he had done-

There were tears at the edges of her vision.

She bit her lip and swallowed them down, and she turned her face away from Karou. Even though it was a slight gesture, the light of Liraz's wings combined with the dim firelight made it obvious that the other girl had seen it, and Liraz noticed Karou slinking down a little bit.

"I would have done it, you know. I would have brought him back, had I been able to."

"Yes, well…" Liraz started, before she even thought of an ending. She could feel the beginnings of blood on her lips from biting it hard enough, and there were still tears, fucking tears, which she always bit back and never felt, at her eyes, and she cursed herself for being so weak. "I don't care. I don't need your help anymore."

She made a step to leave the open room. What Liraz wanted was a nice flight, a nice, long flight in the night with no sounds, nothing but her and her wings and the open air, but that was impossible. She hated living in that shitty cage, but there was nowhere to go, too many people around for her to sneak out unnoticed.

Karou's voice found her back. "Liraz, look. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for meeting your brother. I'm sorry for dying. I'm sorry for sending more and more soldiers for you to kill, I'm sorry… I'm sorry for all of the harm I've done to you. I just want you to know… if there was a way for me to reach back in time and glean his soul, I would do it in a heartbeat." Her voice had cracked, and Liraz knew that Karou must have been crying, too. "He seemed like a great person, and I just… don't want you to hate me. I am so, so sorry."

Liraz stopped. Turned around. She stared at Karou, stared at the fire, and then she took a step forward. Two steps.

Knelt down.

And, without thinking, she kissed her.

It was not something Liraz had ever done before, had never even thought of doing before. Her mouth found Karou's sloppily, and the other girl sat there for a moment, in obvious shock, and then she…

She kissed her back.

Karou's hands hung limply at her sides, and Liraz found herself pulling her closer, just slightly, and when Karou pulled away gently, Liraz found her head resting on Karou's shoulder.

Once she realized what she had done, however, she jumped back. It was an abrupt movement, and almost pushed Karou over. Liraz stood up, turned away, and placed her hands on her hips. "I'm so sorry, Karou, I didn't think-"

"Don't apologize," was all that Karou said. She pushed herself off the ground slowly, and took a step closer to her. "That was… nice. You know," she added, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "the last boy I kissed, besides Akiva, was this total douche canoe. I threw him into a glass wall once. That was amazing."

Liraz did laugh at that. She relaxed her posture a little, turning back to face Karou. "There was this one boy once who kept trying to make advances on me. He wasn't even subtle about it, and then one day Hazael… Hazael looked at me and said 'Do you want me to take care of him?' and I said to him, 'No, it's fine, I can handle a little boy."

"What did you do?"

There was a ghost of a smile on Liraz's face. "I kicked his ass during a practice session. He was wiping mud off of him all day. He never approached me again."

Karou laughed. Liraz had to admit, she did have a nice laugh. And smile. And face. And everything.

Shit, was that a… crush she had?

"Listen, Liraz… I'm glad we had this conversation tonight. Just… don't tell Thiago about that kiss. Or anyone else. It's not that I mind people knowing that I… sort of like girls too. I just don't really want to stir up more controversy about me than there already is." She made a move forward, as if wanting to hug Liraz, but then she bit her lip and stepped back. "Good night."

The next morning, Liraz expected Karou to regret everything that had happened the previous night. She spent all of breakfast waiting for the girl, who was sitting with her little friend- Zuzana?-, to pull her over somewhere and talk about it. But she didn't, and she spent the whole thing in peace.

Except when Karou got up to leave, and she looked over at Liraz and Akiva and… smiled at her.

"Liraz, are you… blushing?"