bVariables/b
The breeze coaxed another large bubble from the busker's hoop. It bobbed several yards before popping in a spray of soap. Most had. From his seat on the quay, Trowa gazed up to where just one had survived. It soared high, gently swooping over the harbour.
Trowa pondered how many variables were involved in a successful soap bubble: the speed with which it formed, the concentration of soap, the pressure inside and out, the vagaries of the breeze.
There'd been no war for years now, not even a skirmish. The variables maintaining the peace were more numerous and complex.
Trowa pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and looked up a number he hadn't dialed in months.
"Hi, Quatre? I was just thinking about you..."