A chill swept in with December. Frost covered my window each morning, even when the sun shown. The icy rose looked both dull, while the surrounding blue was even paler. The curtains parting still served to wake me, but allowed me to drift into consciousness, rather than being dunked into the new day.

The Tower was somewhat empty, as Guardians and citizens traveled throughout the island, running errands and collecting food and supplies before the first snow hit. The mild, salty winds from the shores kept the air humid and warm, while the ground became hard and crunchy beneath our shoes.

There was a certain buzz within our group of Violets, as they came closer and closer to the Solstice, and their deadline. Eve had been prepared to stay almost immediately upon arrival. She had flourished in the Obsidian Guard, and gave little indication that this was a world she wanted to leave behind. Some were insistent that they had to leave, and were working closely with the Shadow Guard to make that happen. Others, like me, were stuck in the middle, wanting to stay and leave at the same time.

"It's not that I don't want to stay," Leena lamented. "It's beautiful here. But I don't know when I'll have another chance to see my family."

Jamie nodded. "It's time to return. I don't want to miss my opportunity to leave, then regret staying for the rest of my life."

Vesna was having none of it. "But look how wonderful this place is! We get fancy clothes in a City that rations food. We get adorable pets, fun adventure, and a bunch of really hot guys." She had recently begun flirting heavily with Valkyon. While she was placed in the Absynthe Guard, with Nevra, she had been able to maintain a healthy friendship with the other Guard leader. They seemed to get along well on a personal level, and I think having another halfling to connect with had caught Valkyon's interest.

Catalina shook her head. "Not my type." Her English had improved vastly, now that she had other Spanish-speakers to interact and translate with.

Jamie giggled. "Yeah, boys can't always keep you busy enough to stick around for more. Right?" It took me a second to realize she was speaking to me.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, come now. We all now you're staying to be with Nevra." I looked at the other girls; they were all nodding like it was obvious.

"He is one of the things I'd like to stay for," I relented, "but I'm still deciding."

Nirvani gave me a little shove. "Don't be like that. You can talk to us. Just because I think you would be stupid to stay doesn't mean I won't sit here and gossip about him with you."

"You think I would be stupid to stay?" I asked. Eve rolled her eyes at Nirvani.

Nirvani nodded. "For a boy? Hell, yeah. Nevra's a huge flirt."

Helin jumped to his defense. "He likes to play, but is really attached to her. On a mission, whenever I mention wanting to go back for dinner, he always says, 'I'm more looking forward to dessert!' And then winks! Or… blinks? What do you call it when only one is even showing?"

We all ignored the rhetorical question. "Vesna isn't staying for a boy," Nirvani continued. "She's staying because she really likes it here."

"Well," Vesna piped up, "that and the boy."

Nirvani stayed focused on me. "You shouldn't stay just for Nevra. You should stay for you."

"And for Nevra." Vesna giggled. Nirvani swatted her lightly.

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Nevra had stayed true to his promise to spend as much time with me as possible. Whenever he was off-mission, he was with me. In bed, in the shower, at meals, waiting in hallways when my committee meetings finished. We spent each dusk strolling around the grounds and gardens. With his company, I was even allowed to venture outside the walls and into the forest. It was there we were now, weaving around trees and being generally flirtatious. He had begun poking at my sides until a darted away from him. He chased me deeper into the forest and yelled playful threats after me.

"When I catch you, I'm gonna bend you over a tree limb, bed keeper! Don't think I won't."

I was already too out of breath to keep running at the same pace, but still felt audacious enough to spare some breath. "Don't tease me if you can't please me!"

I heard him gaining on me, and put on another burst of speed. "We'll see who has the last laugh when I squeeze you back into your maid uniform!"

I through an insult over my shoulder as I ducked a low-hanging branch. "If you can't keep up with me now, I doubt you'll have the energy to keep anything up later!"

Just then I saw a flash of black retreating from ahead. Thinking Nevra had somehow gotten in front of me, I darted to the right. But then he was to my left. Just the flash of his cape. I curved back toward HQ, but he was at my side.

Not Nevra, though. The figure from the Cave. I screamed and kept running back to HQ. I heard steps behind me, crunching the last of the fallen leaves. A hand grabbed at my shoulder. "Got you!"

I was swept up in Nevra's arms. He gave a victory laugh and swung us both in a tight circle. "Now you will be my servant forever. Doing my bidding and cleaning my laundry!"

I quickly looked around for the masked man, but couldn't see him. Maybe it was my imagination. Maybe Nevra was really the one behind me the whole time. He didn't notice my confusion.

"Oh, don't worry love. I will be kind. You will be served the best food in the land, and have access to the best phallus."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, goody." He smiled and kissed me on the mouth, then carried me back to HQ, where he showed me how much energy he had left after the chase.

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"So here's what we can do." I had joined the Violets to see Ezarel, who had enlisted several Shadow Guardians in 'interviewing' each girl about our homes, families, and government agencies. The plan was to create a potion that would allow us to seamlessly arrive back into the human realm (and into our families lives) without causing a stir.

"We can make them not recognize you. We can make everyone forget you ever existed. We can lull them into believing you were on a vacation to a human place. But we can't make them believe you were there all along. Especially since your leaders have probably been nosing their way into your business." We actually had confirmation that this was the case. However, the existence of the possibility of travel between the realms at this level was confidential. So he had to be vague. He had been tremendously vague when explaining – hypothetically – how this non-existent method of transport would not help us in the least. Apparently there was a (not real!) time limit that pulls Guardians bodies back after a trip. In case of death, hypothetically.

Miiko was absent. She had apparently given Ezarel full power to decide our fates. He was excited to get many of us out.

Jamie raised her hand. "Why can't we use the third choice?"

Ezarel smirked. "Vacation? With no record of you being anywhere? And no indication that you were going to leave in the first place?" He jabbed a thumb in my direction. "This one left on an evening stroll."

She just shrugged. "If you can convince them we were gone, won't they be susceptible to another suggestions?" The rest of us nodded at the encouragement.

"And we could return while they were away from home," Helin said. "Make it look like we were unpacking when they arrive. I still have my house key in my bedroom here."

"Well then, what would you suggest if they ask for proof? You going to bring back one of your postcards?"

Jamie shrugged again. "We could each take photos of here. Say we were somewhere tropical?"

Ezarel scoffed. "We don't have any fancy human cameras for your use. All of the ribbon has been shaken."

Helin looked at Ezarel like he was stupid. "We have cell phones."

He stared at her like he was. "You have what?" We all turned to the door and ran back up to our respective bedrooms. Minutes later we were back, powering them up.

"Awww… mine's searching for the WiFi! Poor thing…" Nirvani cooed.

Catalina snaked something out of her shirt. "Charged?"

I checked my charge. "I'm good. Turned it off when I arrived.

"Mine's almost dead, so we'll have to make the pictures quick," Nirvani said. "Where to, girls?"

We decided to take an immediate field trip. Ezarel said he would start on the potion. We went upstairs to change into our most touristy clothing, taking care to keep fabric cheap-looking. I grabbed a V-shaped tube top that had a gem hanging from the bottom tip and a patterned skirt that looked like it could be a mini sarong. Catalina came downstairs in a bubblegum pink bralette top and baggy striped pants. Jamie had chosen to wear a brown mish-mash of pelts and furry embellishments. When we cocked our heads at her ensemble, she shrugged. "What? I like to vacation in cold places. They know that." We agreed to take her to the beach for her photos. The others came back in layers of silk and patterned drapes that shouted Thailand!

We took care of Jamie's pictures first, having her sitting on driftwood, shivering in the wind, and running along the beach, taking care to avoid capturing anything that looked particularly native.

The rest of us took our pictures at the beach, since the wind wasn't blowing too hard. It was cold, but we kept moving enough to fight off the chill.

Initially, the plan was to do a few shots of each individual, then move onto the next one. However, that changed when Nirvani came barreling at me during my turn, knocking us both over into the water. It quickly escalated to a classic beach trip. The two of us started splashing the freezing cold water at each other while the others ran around. Helin had built a haphazard sand castle before Leena played Godzilla and stomped it to smithereens. Jamie was the camera guru and director as we eventually agreed it would be a joint photo shoot. We had some group pics, as well as a number of one-on-ones, each wanting to have a personal photo to hold onto once we left for good. Catalina started doing backhand springs across the stand. Jamie managed to get a video of her propelling herself toward a rock cropping and launching into the water.

After, we agreed that we should have done this ages ago. And that we should do regular outings from now on.

All the cell phones were turned off to conserve the battery for these coming trips.

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I sat down with Nevra that night to talk, without distractions. And I mean without distractions. I had put on my most modest clothes with the most buttons and straps between him and I. He waited patiently to hear what I had to say, lightly holding my hand.

"I'm going home." The word home had felt weird in that context. I had seriously began considering HQ my home. The word felt foreign in this sentence. Like I should have said I'm going away.

Nevra nodded, then brought a hand up to my face. "I know. I've known for awhile that is what you would choose. Maybe even before you did." I pressed against his hand, letting him hold me. "I hope it's alright that I don't stand and cheer."

I brought him into a hug. "I wish I could take you with me. I wish I could know for sure that I wouldn't regret staying."

"I wish I could reassure you."

We sat in silence for a couple moments, then Nevra suddenly stood up. "I have some things I need to take care of. Then, if it's alright, I'd like to spend as much of our remaining time together as possible."

I looked up at him, smiling. "That sounds perfect."

He nodded, swallowed, then turned to the door. He left, wiping at a cheek.