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Sanya's samovar hissed quietly on the side table, charcoal glowing softly in the tiny furnace at the bottom. A fresh batch of bergamot tea was brewing in the teapot nestled in the cradle at the top of the enormous silver-plated boiler. It was a prized possession of Sanya's, not least because it was an impulsive gift from Eila while they searched for traces of Sanya's family in St. Petersburg.
The witches had rearranged the tables, chairs, and divans in the common room so that they sat facing each other in a rough rectangle. Eila sat between Sanya and Gustav on one of the divans. Yoshika, Lynne, and Perrine sat opposite them, while on one side of the rectangle sat Shirley and Francesca, and Gertrud and Erica on the other.
Eila had spent the past two days with Gustav and her ground crew shaking down her new strikers. She would fly and perform a series of test maneuvers, after which they would analyze collected data and make adjustments to improve performance. Once the strikers had been attuned to her magical affinity, she had gone through a series of test battles with various witches. Gustav had been adamant that they determine whether the addition speed boost and larger turning radius was within her foresight abilities. After defeating Hartmann, Barkhorn, Minna, and Shirley in a four-on-one melee, he was satisfied that it didn't. After the mock battle, Shirley had looked upon the TA152s with envy; they almost matched the speed of her heavily modified P51s. Yeager longed for the chance to try them out herself, and tinker with the settings to boost the speed. Gustav let the Liberion know in no uncertain terms that that was not going to happen on his watch.
The return to the sky had lifted Eila's spirits beyond measure. Although her flights in the strikers were to fine-tune them for combat use, she took the opportunity to frolic in the sky after being away for so long. Denied the sky for so long, she hadn't realized that she missed soaring among the clouds, which, sans black-mottled-evil, were an enchanted realm. Smothered by Eila's waves of unfettered joy as she soared through the heavens, Minna relented and allowed the pale-haired witch to accompany Sanya into the night sky on the second day, after Gustav confirmed the strikers were combat ready, and only after extracting a promise from the Soumi witch that she would not engage any hostiles under any circumstances.
With the delivery and tuning of the strikers finished, it was time for Gustav to return to Soumus. The convoy he had arrived in would be swinging by the base on its way back to the northern country, having loaded up with military supplies, including ammunition, weapons, and replacement parts. Gustav had confided to Eila that one truck would be filled exclusively with spare parts for Nippa's strikers. Because of her high crash rate, Soumus High Command had kept her in her older model Bf109 - a model that was being phased out by the Neue Karlsland and Belgica military, meaning there were plenty of parts to salvage from decommissioned units.
"...that year the school held a costume party to celebrate Vappu," Gustav was telling the assembled witches. "Eila had decided to dress up as Alice from 'Alice in Wonderland'. She had a blue dress, white apron, and even the head-band."
"You, wearing a dress?" asked Barkhorn in disbelief.
"Yes," replied the Soumi witch, tartly. "Why is that so hard to imagine?"
"That sounds very cute, Eila. You should wear something like that for me," said Sanya, smiling at her long haired girlfriend.
Eila's ears turned crimson. Over on their divan Lucchini doubled over giggling while Shirley covered her smirk with her hand. Perrine, returning to her seat with a fresh cup of tea, fished into her tunic pocket and dropped a five karlsmark note into the Liberion's lap. Opposite them, Hartmann grinned from ear to ear while Barkhorn struggled mightily to imagine Eila in an knee-length dress.
"The worse part was she insisted I go to the party dressed as the mad hatter," continued Gustav.
"That's better than going as the March Hare," retorted Eila sulkily.
"Can I be your Cheshire Cat?" purred Sanya silkily. Yeager exploded with laughter while Yoshika and Lynne turned deep red.
Sensing the conversation was heading in the wrong direction, Gustav tried to change the subject. "Remember casting tin at the new year parties?"
"Casting tin?" asked Miyafuji, always eager to learn about another country's traditions.
"In Soumus on New Years Eve we melt little tin horseshoes and pour the molten metal into cold water. The shape the metal solidifies into can tell your fortune," Eila explained proudly.
"Because of her Foresight she was always asked to interpret the shapes," Gustav added. "She was pretty good at it, too."
"It wasn't all that hard," she protested, waving her hand. "'You'll pass your test'. 'You'll have a cute girlfriend.' School kids don't have complicated futures." She added playfully: "Dummy."
Perrine suddenly recalled something she had heard when she was little. "Is it true in Soumus you have a holiday where children dress as witches?"
"U-weh?" exclaimed Miyafuji, astonished.
"Holy Saturday, yes," Gustav confirmed. "They go door to door offering daffodils to bless the house in exchange for sweets."
"If I give you a daffodil, will you give me sweets?" Hartmann asked Barkhorn coquettishly.
"I'll give you something!" scolded the dark-haired Karlslander, shaking her fist in front of the giggling blond's nose.
"Witches in the neighborhood get special gifts, and in return they give out little cakes to the children." Eila added.
"What kind of gifts?" asked Lynne and Lucchini simultaneously.
"Baskets of fruit, or maybe a scarf, or a little bracelet," she answered, smiling with satisfaction. "Little tokens of appreciation for the help and protection they provide."
Seeing Perrine, Lynne, and Yoshika across from her, Eila suddenly remembered something. "Speaking of witches, remember that witch who lived in the neighborhood, the old lady who rode the broom? Is she still there?"
"You mean Rouva Kiki? Yes, she's still there, living over the bread shop, though she retired from the delivery business about two years back," Gustav said. "Now she helps watch over the neighborhood kids and tells stories about the early days of flight."
"Please give her my regards when you see her next," she asked. Gustav nodded, smiling.
The witches began breaking into their own side conversations. Hartmann was trying to convince Barkhorn to exchange gifts for candies - "How about I scratch behind your ears for candy?" "No." "I can scratch somewhere else..." "What!?" Lucchini became distracted by Shirley's breasts and decided to nestle in the Liberion's cleavage; Shirley, happy for the attention, stroked the Romagnian's hair. Yoshika and Lynne were trapped by Perrine's disapproving lecture about the lack of manners by her crude, bumpkinish squad-mates.
Eila and Gustav began reminiscing about the other people from their neighborhood. Sanya hugged her lover's arm and listened with rapt attention, smiling wistfully as she thought about her own town, razed by the Neuroi.
Finally, it was time to leave. A young man dressed in Soumus blue-grey entered the common room and signaled to Gustav, who stood up to go. Noticing him preparing to leave, the other witches wished him farewell and safe journey before they returned to their various distractions. Eila and Sanya accompanied him out of the common room and to the access road to the base's entrance. In the distance they saw Minna and Mio speaking with senior officers next to a Central Command staff car.
"It was good seeing you again," said Eila. Impulsively she gave him an affectionate hug.
"It was good seeing you, too," agreed Gustav, hugging her back. "And it was a pleasure meeting you," he said, turning to Sanya. He climbed into the cab of the transport truck at the front of the convoy. He slapped his palm twice against the door, and the driver started the vehicle and began grinding the stick shift to catch first gear.
As the truck lurched forward, Gustav stuck his head out the window and shouted back at the pair. "Hyvästi! Ole varovainen!" Switching to Britannian, he shouted to Sanya, "Take good care of Eila!"
"Hey!...Augh!" Eila started protesting, but was cut short by Sanya, who pinned her arms to her side with a hug and big grin on her face, and uncharacteristically shouted back "Don't worry! I will!" as the convoy started rounding the first turn in the road and drove out of sight.
Inside the truck, the driver shifted gear and asked Gustav, "So, was your mission a success?"
Gustav slouched in his seat. "Just shut up and drive," he replied sulkily.
"Okay, okay," the driver replied, grinding the truck into a higher gear.