In Search of Something Familiar
Tatiana watched the cliffs of Norkia pass by in a green-and-brown blur. Her eyes followed the rolling of the hills as the grass rose up, then fell down. The wind, which should have felt like a constant cold slap to the face, was instead a cool breeze, lightly playing with Tatiana's short blonde hair. Tatiana's body locked into place, and her mind settled into lethargy, attempting to slip away, far from the grasp of the vanship pilot's physical world. For a brief moment, Tatiana could see dunes, pillars and rock formations; she could see once again the base of the Dragon's Fangs.
"Tatiana!"
Her mind felt itself being pulled forcefully into the present. Suddenly she was aware of the strong wind blowing opposite of her direction; of the instrument array in front of her after she faced forward (especially the altimeter, which once again indicated that she was 500 feet too low); of Alister's voice having called her name four times previous. Yes, she was piloting a vanship. Tatiana turned around to look at her navigator.
Alister's face was curious to Tatiana, even though her ponytail occasionally obscured the pilot's view. Her eyes seemed to be searching Tatiana's, as though the evidence for her recent reverie had been written on her face. They also seemed to be…expecting something. That something was probably an explanation for why Tatiana had made the same mistake three times in a row--not to mention a mistake which she would never perpetrate under normal circumstances. Tatiana knew this as well, and something inside was screaming out apologies to her navigator; but she chose to remain silent, to feign ignorance. She stared at Alister with what was hopefully a blank expression, not breaking away until the navigator broke the silence.
"You were flying far too low this time as well. I can't hope to grab that tube at this altitude."
Tatiana hesitated, her mind racing to produce the most mundane of responses. "Right," she nearly screamed, the bludgeoning wind battling against their voices, "let's go again!"
"Are you sure? We can come back and claim the tube after visiting!"
"Absolutely. We'll need to go over the vanship after taking the contract, and there's no better time to grab it than now."
Tatiana faced forward again as she steered the vanship back towards the courier post. After a few seconds she could see a long metal arm being extended out into the canyon, a golden ring attached to the outstretched end. She stared down the message tube as her vanship was aimed just below it…then Tatiana was in the desert again, only briefly. Then she was staring down the barrel of an abandoned gun turret. A gunshot rang out.
"Got it!" Alister exclaimed.
Tatiana's brain was once again jerked back into its physical container. Her mind's eye closed shut. "R-right! Good! Where to now?"
There was a long pause.
"Alister?"
"…Claus, Lavie's house?"
"Oh! Yes, I'll set course for it," Tatiana replied, flustered and flushed from embarrassment, as well as more than a bit of sluggishness from her mind. The rest of the journey passed in complete silence, save for the vanship and the air around it.
Tatiana and Alister's vanship slowed to a halt as it approached the long path of dirt leading from the Vulcas' old barn, its pilot setting the bright red machine down gently. Tatiana twisted her head around to scan the entirety of the lush green cliff top. There was no sign of Claus or Lavie. Suddenly, there was the sound of a door being slammed open. Tatiana glanced again at the small white house to see Alvis running straight for them, notably taller than she was a year ago. She turned around to see Alister already on the ground, awaiting the inevitable embrace from the child. Tatiana did not take long to follow.
"It's been quite a while, hasn't it?" Alister said with a soft smile. Tatiana noticed someone running after Alvis--tall, with dark brown hair. He seemed somewhat familiar.
"Yes, it has," she replied.
"Tatiana! Alis! See Mullin, I told you they were here!"
Alvis hugged Tatiana first, as she was closer to the house than Alister. She hit the pilot like a gale force wind. Tatiana grunted, planting a hand on the vanship behind her, to prevent falling, while her other arm wrapped itself around Alvis.
"Ugh, hey Al! See you've grown!"
Alvis did not respond; she would not resort to words until her enthusiastic greeting was finished. Mullin caught up to the group just as Alvis was moving on to tackle Alister, albeit less forcefully. He was panting.
"Phew. I…I promised to Lavie I'd watch over Al. 'Never keep one eye off her.' It's…difficult, to say the least."
"Claus and Lavie aren't here?" Tatiana asked.
"No. Lavie's at their repair shop and Claus…Well, he's probably at another shop. He's looking for some specific part for the vanship." Mullin looked over Tatiana and Alister's vanship. "Ah, and while we're on the subject of those contraptions: I see you painted yours red. Looks just like the one you had on the Silvana."
"Hm? Oh, yes. We felt like we needed to buy our own ship for civilian life. After all, it wouldn't feel right for us to fly courier missions while having machine guns armed and loaded."
"Wait, you're running...Oh, we'll go over all of that inside. Dunya's probably finished with lunch.
Mullin took off, Alister being the first one to start following him back to the house. "So Dunya's here as well?"
Alvis responded before Mullin could open his mouth to speak. "Dunya's going to have a baby!" Her excitement was more than apparent to anyone listening.
"Really," Alister said, looking down at Alvis. The girl nodded vigorously.
"Two months pregnant," Mullin said, a faint hint of pride ringing in his voice, hanging in the air after his words were finished.
Tatiana nodded as she followed the others. Her gaze wandered off until it met the white, windswept clouds above; her mind was quick to follow. It was then that she remembered the events of that morning. Tatiana grabbed for Alister's arm. As she turned around, Alvis continuing on her way, the vanship pilot lightly cleared her throat.
"Ahem, right, about this morning, Alis--"
"Oh, that? Don't dwell on it." Tatiana had been staring at the field below as she was speaking, but at Alister's reply she looked up, into her navigator's gaze. She was smiling, reaching out to pat Tatiana on the shoulder.
"You know whom you can confide in."
Tatiana chuckled nervously. Now that Alister had completely dismissed Tatiana's daydream as anything but an incident, she felt somewhat embarrassed for even bringing the subject up. Perhaps she would take Alister up on her offer--but then again Tatiana rarely did.
"Right, right. Let's get inside."
As Tatiana walked up the steps leading to the house's front porch, she could not avoid feeling slightly disappointed by the welcome. But that was only a twinge of selfish though; a brief moment. Tatiana stowed that desire away, and let her baser desire for food take over as a pleasing aroma filled the parlor into which she was entering.