Frank felt a surge of hope when his phone buzzed, but his heart plummeted when he read Stella's reply.
Hyperia would appreciate it. Not 'I will appreciate it'. Hyperia would appreciate it.
Frank shrugged aside his disappointment. Stella was thinking of Hyperia, even after she had left this earth. There wasn't time to be upset over Stella. Frank had a responsibility to do right by Hyperia, and there was much work to do to organise her memorial. He would ensure that she was forever remembered for her bravery, her strength and her love for others.
Flowers of all colours lined the benches of the tiny chapel. The room was packed to the brim with MI9 staff, dressed immaculately in black and clamouring to pay their respects. At the front, on a raised platform, was a framed picture of Hyperia from her early days in training, her bright smile lighting up the room even through the dusty glass.
Hyperia had been an orphan, with no family outside of MI9. Her work was also her home and her colleagues were her brothers and sisters. She had given everything for MI9 and the principles that she stood for.
Coming into the chapel, each attendee was given an origami rabbit. They had always been Hyperia's favourite animal. As they walked into the chapel, they went up to Hyperia's portrait and placed the rabbit beside her. Very soon, the framed picture was swimming in a sea of tiny paper rabbits.
Frank was seated in the front row, a few seats down from Stella. He looked over to her every now and then, but she always seemed to be looking to other way. The only time he managed to make eye contact was when he announced, 'Agent Stella Knight, a close friend of Hyperia's, will now say a few words.'
Stella's eyes met his only briefly, and he thought he saw a flash of confusion in her bright irises. But the next moment, it was gone, and she swallowed and made her way cautiously to the microphone.
'Hyperia was a great agent. She was brave, loyal, clever and always had a knack for raising morale. Her smile could light up any dull meeting. She lived her life to the full and threw all her heart into everything she did. We should be very proud of her.'
Stella paused and glanced around. Several people were wiping away tears already. She kept speaking, 'I met Hyperia on her first day in training. I was only a junior agent then, a year after qualifying, and I'd been called upon to help out with the new recruits. We were running a field exercise and I was assigned to supervise Hyperia's team. Under Hyperia's leadership, her team finished six and a half hours ahead of everyone else. She was truly exceptional.
But it isn't Hyperia's skills that I wanted to speak of today. We have no doubt that she was one of the brightest, bravest agents there ever was. No, today, I wanted to speak of Hyperia's heart, and share with you the times when I was lucky enough to experience her compassion and her friendship.
On that very same training exercise, I'd had an argument with one of the other junior supervisors.' Stella pointedly avoided eye contact with Frank, who had almost jumped up at this mention of him.
'I was a little disgruntled when I came to see the team and I regret to say that I was rather irritable towards them. While the rest of them groaned and swore under their breaths, Hyperia approached me, very subtly, and asked what was wrong.' Stella felt the words begin to choke in her throat. She swallowed again, then continued. 'You see, Hyperia saw right into me. She knew what I was feeling and she helped, even despite my rather rude behaviour. From then on, we became good friends and I relied on her, and, I like to think, she relied on me somewhat.'
Almost half the agents in the room were surreptitiously wiping away tears now. They all knew and loved Hyperia, and could easily relate to what Stella was saying.
'I could go on for weeks about Hyperia's kind heart and good soul. But I can almost hear her voice now.' Stella heard herself let out a bitter laugh as she said this. 'She'd say: "Oh, don't go on and on, Stella. We get your point - you're just trying to say that I'm brilliant!" It was so typical of Hyperia to bring joy into every situation, to diffuse the most sinister tension, to shake off the most brutal of insults. She was truly a beautiful soul and I know we will all miss her dearly.'
Stella's words were little more than croaks now - so tight were the muscles in her throat, and she felt as though a buffalo was crushing her chest. But her eyes remained dry as she stepped down from the platform and handed the stage back to Frank.
'Thank you, Stella,' Frank said, his voice a little hoarse. 'Now, you'll all probably remember that Hyperia, in all her wisdom and brilliance, was still an innocent child at heart sometimes. If you've ever asked her to join you on a coffee break, she'd always suggest grabbing an ice cream instead of a coffee. We're going to break up in a moment, but there will be ice cream at the rear of the chapel, just outside. Thank you all for coming.'
There was a flurry of movement as everyone stood up. Stella almost smiled at Frank's gesture with the ice cream. Hyperia would definitely appreciate it. Stella could almost picture her smiling face now, 'Well, if I'm dead I can't eat ice cream, so make sure to have one for me!'
So many stories involved Hyperia and ice cream. There was the time they messed up their Finnish nouns and ended up offending an ice cream vendor in Helsinki, and the time Hyperia convinced Frank that the ultimate date would be to take Stella to all the ice cream parlours in London, and that one time Hyperia managed to persuade Stella to join her on a prank, subsequently bailing and leaving Stella alone to carry twenty litres of ice cream into Horatio Stark's office.
Stella had been so caught up daydreaming about Hyperia and ice cream that she didn't notice Frank approach her.
'That was beautiful,' he said.
Stella felt an irrational twinge of annoyance. Then, she became even more annoyed that she was feeling annoyance. Her feelings were making no sense whatsoever.
'Hyperia deserved so much more,' she heard herself say. 'I wish I could have communicated telepathically so everyone here would know exactly how wonderful she was.'
Frank said something in reply, but Stella didn't hear him. She spotted a corner of green ribbon sticking out from Frank's jacket pocket and snatched it out. It was his medal for bravery.
'You've been carrying this around? You think you're a hero?' From the periphery of her vision, Stella spotted people staring at her. She must have been quite loud, but she didn't care. 'Hyperia is the hero, Frank! How can you carry around this medal like a trophy of her death?'
Frank had taken a half-step backwards at Stella's words, as if she had stabbed at him with a knife. His eyes were wide with shock and hurt, and he opened his mouth to speak but the words seemed to stick to the tip of his tongue.
'Stella, I didn't -. I wouldn't - . I keep it as a token of her sacrifice, to remember her!'
But Stella was already storming away.
