"Finn," Piper warned and pleaded in the same voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. No speaky-speaky about Cyclonis," Finn huffed as he threw his hand in the air. "Sheesh, I can keep a secret. Who do you think I am? Radarr?"
The rabbitlemur issued forth a low growl.
"He didn't mean it, buddy. We all know you're the best at keeping secrets," Piper said, patting Radarr's head for reassurance.
Piper jumped off from her heliscooter and went with Finn and Stork inside the Condor.
"You can trust that my lips," Finn pulled his index fingers and thumb across his mouth, "are sealed. Now, anyway, Beach Babes of the Atmos are about begin!"
Piper usually found the show demeaning but for the first time in her life, she had a feeling in her stomach like she wanted to watch it to see what it was. Piper palmed her face. No, she didn't. Since Cyclonis' kiss, her mind had been a disarray. One second they were laughing, the next she pretty much held her down and kissed her. But that wasn't going to be the story she told Aerrow.
Piper's heartbeat increased in tempo. She couldn't tell him. 'Oh, hey sweetie, Cyclonis kissed me, but everything is ok. No need to worry. Oh, and by the way, I still plan on seeing her everyday'. No way.
She considered ending her meetings with Cyclonis entirely but a promise was a promise. Whenever Piper calculated battle plans for the team, the decision making process was fairly simple: make a decision and hold firm to it. But this was trickier than that. A direct route might not work this time around.
As Piper entered her room, she put herself in a lotus position within her usual meditation spot. This was where she had practiced the Binding since Cyclonis' defeat. Several crystals lay in a circle around her and slowly began to levitate as Piper became more concentrated on her own self.
Looking inwards, Piper asked herself the most important question of all: how did she feel when Cyclonis kissed her? She loved Aerrow. That was just how things were. Cyclonis had kissed her against her will and even considering the thought of liking it was bad enough. Cyclonis had left her in a bewildered state of pure uncertainty. She feared the Cyclonian girl now more than ever. What she thought was a blossoming friendship revealed itself to be something more precious in the broken master's heart. The feeling of her lips upon hers ran through her mind. There was a spark, the feeling of cold fire. The sensation seemed to linger on her lips, tingling sensually, permeating her very being. The kiss had made her feel distant, almost sad.
Maybe Cyclonis was trying to make a show of effort. Maybe she was trying to bridge the distance between the two by something. Piper only wanted the best for the Cyclonian girl but she didn't want to become the only hope she had left.
The crystals gently fell to the floor as Piper rose only to throw herself on the small bed. She would need to speak to Starling again. If Cyclonis needed a bridge to the world she was hopefully going to be a part of, she would need more than Piper. Maybe there were some other Cyclonians she could speak to. Reformed Cyclonians, of course, who could teach her the free and democratic way of the Atmosians. It was not going to be easy.
If Cyclonis indeed had feelings for her, they were going to be her own problems. The best Piper could do from here on out was to help her form new bonds with others. Either way, she was definitely not going to tell Aerrow about Cyclonis' feelings or the kiss. If Cyclonis had a crush on her, she would get over it eventually when she met new people. That idea made Piper smile widely. She had never seen the wicked Cyclonis as a creature capable of love and somehow that thought immediately saddened her. Maybe Piper was the Cyclonian girl's first kiss, maybe even her first crush. She would probably not take a rejection very well. Piper feared it would mean a decline in the rehabilitation.
An hour later, while Piper was standing in the Condor's control room, staring at the clouds drifting by while completely lost in thought, she found pause as warm hands rested upon her shoulders. Gaining focus, she found herself staring into vibrant green eyes. Aerrow's smile appeared to glow as Piper emerged from the solitude of her thoughts.
"Finn has been talking non-stop about the hypercapacitor since you returned. I have never seen him so happy - in fact I don't think I've ever really seen him happy before today," Aerrow chuckled. "Thank you for taking them on the mission. It means a lot."
Piper provided Aerrow with a modest, courtesy smile as her mind focused upon other matters.
"Do you know if Starling is in Atmosia?" she asked as her expression deteriorated to one of pressing concern.
"Yes, she's got a meeting with the Council," Aerrow responded as his smile slowly waned. "Piper, is everything alright?"
"Yeah," Piper lied, feebly smiling. "Everything is fine. I just need to talk to Starling," she said as she gently broke away from his touch.
The squadron leader gazed upon his second-in-command as she walked towards the hangar and her heliscooter. For one reason or another, he felt a pressing weight upon his chest.