Three days later, I slept in. Normally I was immune to sleeping in – that is, I would wake up at six in the morning whether I liked it or not.

By the time I got downstairs the dining room was already crowded. My brain was still muddled with sleep, so I didn't notice Allen until he called out to me.

"Hey, Lucidia, good morning." His voice was friendly, but awfully loud in my ears. I wondered briefly whether I should go back to sleep.

"Good morning, Allen," I responded mindlessly. "I'm a little tired. And hungry."

There was a short silence as I seated myself. Allen lagged behind a little. "Alma hasn't been here this morning. Is he with you?"

"What?" It took my ears several seconds to process the question. The unexpected mention of Alma's name had startled me a little, but at least I was awake now. "No, I haven't seen him for days."

Allen didn't mention him again. I was a little worried about Alma, but I managed to stay calm until lunch, to which Lavi unexpectedly tagged along.

"How've you been liking the Black Order?" was his first question.

"It's fun," I responded, rather calmly. It was enjoyable to explore a new place like this, especially when most people seemed so welcoming. A hint of danger didn't hurt, either. (I was still exhausted from the outing with Allen before.) I noticed my answer was a bit vague.

I also noted that Lavi liked gyoza, which were my favorite food as well.

"Have you made a bunch of friends?" he inquired enthusiastically, his smile widening by the second. I had only just met Lavi in person and I already could tell that a frown from him would be unusual.

I shrugged humbly. "I don't know about a bunch, but… sure. Allen's nice, and…" I trailed off absently, glancing at the exorcist beside me. Allen appeared too absorbed in his meal to be listening.

"Is that a no?" Lavi jumped ahead, cutting off my protest. "I guess there are so many people here it's difficult to meet them all, now isn't it?"

"It is," I agreed. Conversation had never been one of my strong suits, but somehow Lavi's energy made it easier to answer questions. He almost was like a ten-year-old kid, although since he was an exorcist he must be older than that…

"She made fast friends with Alma," Allen suddenly piped up.

My ears flipped back within an instant. The unexpected change of subject had startled me again, although as before Lavi commented before I could interject. "Wow, really? That's impressive. That guy is really something else, you know…" He sounded like he was going to wander out onto a story but had stopped himself before he got too far off-track.

"I guess he is." I gradually relaxed again, although my eyes fell to the table as I did so. Upon noticing this, I looked back up at Lavi. He was watching me closely, but didn't say anything else on the matter.

Thanks to Lavi's mood, the rest of the afternoon was lighthearted and easy. I managed to relax a little as the day went by, only stepping outside onto the fire escape in the evening to watch the sunset. The wind was chillier than I expected, so I had to hug my coat to my torso. The ground below was covered in a thick frost, or maybe it was snow. Either way, the bluish whiteness dusted the scenery in a soft greyscale palette. I relaxed a little at the sight, as I far preferred cold to hot. It was nice to have some icy weather once in a while, too; any temperature above seventy degrees tended to make me uncomfortable.

I watched some trees wave gently in the wind for a few minutes before a familiar voice flew to my ears. "Hey, Lucidia."

I looked around, ears pricked to locate the sound. It took me about a second to turn all the way around and glance up at the roofs, the only place I hadn't considered. Perched upon a low one like a resting pigeon was Alma.

I said his name to myself just to make sure my vision wasn't tricking me. "How did you get up there?"

"Like this." With a mischievous grin in his cerulean eyes, he propelled himself forward with one bare foot and dropped seven feet to the balcony on which I was standing. I heard the whoosh as he landed, and I had to take a few steps back to make sure his tail didn't smack me on the way down. "Except in reverse."

I felt my mouth open a little bit. "That makes sense," I lied, unsure of how else to respond.

"You should come up here, too. The view is great." He was still smiling widely.

"Uh…" Again, I was at a loss for words. As an akuma, maybe Alma could leap seven feet to the next rooftop, but the highest I had ever jumped was four feet and ten inches in junior high school. "Sure, but –"

"Okay, hang on tight!" In the space of a second, Alma's grin revealed several of his sharpened teeth, and something came up from under me and gave me a terrible falling sensation, even though I was rising. It took me several moments to register that Alma had picked me up, and he was now standing on the roof he had been previously, except this time he had brought me with him.

As usual, I wasn't sure of what to say. One of Alma's arms was holding up my shoulders, and the other was below my knees. His grip was strong and sure, but the limb beneath my back felt terribly thin, as though it belonged to someone who hadn't eaten in a week.

I felt my ears grow hot. I looked up at his face speechlessly, from which the smile was slowly fading. I could have sworn I saw his pointed ears droop a little. "Sorry. I probably scared you a little."

"No, it's fine. That was sort of fun." After a few moments of consideration I let myself slide onto the roof. Thankfully it was relatively level, and despite it being a little bit icy I could still keep my balance rather well.

"Wow, the view really is different from up here." I surveyed the frosted land below. Though I hadn't gained much altitude, the trees already appeared to be at such a different angle. The green of the pines was faced to the frozen ground, and the snowy tops pointed to the darkened gray sky. "Good thing I'm not afraid of heights… usually…"

Silence followed, broken only by gentle whispers of wind. I turned to Alma. "Are you okay? You're being sort of quiet."

"Yeah. I'm just looking." His response was quick, but his blue eyes were clouded and unfocused despite being set on the scenery. His tail constantly swung like a mindless pendulum, flicking a clear line in the frost behind him.

I slowly drew my eyes from Alma. They settled on a tree not too far away, in which was perched a pair of birds. Their plumage was as black as a peaceful, quiet night, their distant eyes watchful. One had its head drooped and looked as though it was about to fall asleep; the other sat directly beside its companion, sifting through the other bird's neck feathers with a careful beak.

"Two crows allopreening," I muttered to myself, familiar with the observations of amateur birdwatching. I noticed I hadn't seen many birds recently, even though I always kept an eye out for them. Maybe winter wasn't the best season for them.

I could almost feel Alma's sky-blue gaze follow mine. The pair of birds sat together for what seemed like an hour until the one that appeared to have been napping suddenly stepped away and hunched on the branch by itself. It had only been a few seconds before this crow's companion shuffled over and reached for its friend's neck again. In protest, the first bird sidestepped away again. The whole cycle repeated at least three times, coaxing a chuckle out of my lungs.

"That one's persistent," I commented absently. I was about to get bored of watching them play chase when the first crow unexpectedly flopped sideways and almost hung upside down from the branch for a moment. It had unknowingly reached the end of the tree limb, and looked rather ruffled at having doing so. Its friend, on the other hand, had finally given up its pursuit and settled into preening itself rather than its neighbor. By now I was actually laughing, albeit quietly since sound tended to carry farther higher up. (For whatever reason I was a bit self-conscious about my laughing at the time.) "That is too funny. Did you see that?"

I glanced back at Alma. He was smiling now, a quiet light flickering in his eyes. "I did. I didn't know crows acted like that."

"They're pretty goofy. Although, everybody always assumes crows are dirty and evil, just 'cause they live around people and they have black feathers. Really, they're just like other birds – they're songbirds, actually, like sparrows and robins – they just sing their own song and try to live like other birds, but the humans have to get in their way and give them a bad reputation they don't deserve. Not a lot of people pay attention to them long enough to see how they actually have minds and personalities and families, like other birds do. People just don't give them enough credit for how nice they are."

I watched the crows for several more seconds before I checked on Alma again. "Do you like crows, Alma?"

"I haven't thought about it much. I guess I do." His answer sounded unsure, but he still appeared entertained by the birds' affectionate antics.

By now we were both sitting down. The frosty roof didn't bother me much at the moment. Alma rested his arms on his knees and in turn put his chin down. He seemed contented just to watch the crows for a while, even if they really were just sitting there.

I shivered a little. "Aren't you cold?" I asked, although once I did I thought it might be an odd question.

Alma shrugged. "Not really. I can feel that it is cold outside, but I don't react to it, and it doesn't bother me."

It must be part of being an akuma. I was careful not to mention this aloud, since I guessed that Alma might not like being so different all the time. I tried to shove the thought out of my mind and turn my attention back to the crows. I heard a gentle scraping noise behind me every so often as Alma's tail continued to swish back and forth, the pointed tip leaving a curved break in the frost on the roof.

The silence, peaceful this time, surrounded the frosted world for a few more minutes. The sun had faded mostly behind the horizon now, leaving only a trace of purple in the sky, which was now clinging to its last bits of blue. The giant star waved its rays goodbye and was gone, dashing the shiny, icy landscape in relative darkness for another twelve hours. Almost in reflex, the crows tensed, leaning down on their slender gray legs.

Then unexpectedly, the crows flew, leaping off of their branch and fluttering their jet-black feathers. They dropped a bit before they rose, flapping their wings as though being chased. I had to duck quickly, as I didn't notice them flying directly over our heads until they had practically already done so. I watched them dance around the corners of the building before disappearing behind the greyed ice and mist.

I stood up so I could reach the last glimpses of the two birds before they vanished. A chilly wind brushed my ears, and I hugged my coat close again.

Alma rose to his feet gracefully as he too saw the crows fly away. "I guess I understand how they feel. The crows, I mean." His feline eyes stayed in the same place for a long time, even after I stared at him and willed him to move his attention.

"Anyway," he began, at last turning to look at me. He was still smiling. "It's getting late. You probably want some help getting down from here, don't you?"

"Uh… sure. I'd like that." It was hard to come up with a response to that cheerful face very quickly. I got too distracted trying to find all of the different streaks of blue in his catlike eyes.

"All right, then. Hold on tight."

For whatever reason I was a little nervous at the thought of returning to the balcony. Now that I bothered to look directly downwards, it was disorienting being so high above the icy world. Some comfort arrived in the form of Alma's arms gently taking my weight. Clearly he was trying not to startle me this time.

I noticed that my head was quite close to the crook of his neck. If I rotated one ear far enough I could feel where his collarbone was. "You can jump now," I muttered.

The descent was quick and a lot less surprising than I expected. Alma's feet landed on the fire escape, one after the other, each with a dull thunk. Once the world around me stabilized again I let my feet touch the ground and support my weight, but my one ear left its niche slowly as though it wanted to stay behind. I got the message after a few seconds – my head didn't move, either. "Good night, Alma."

"Good night, Lucidia." I didn't realize my ears were so close to his mouth.

"What?" Alma's voice snatched my attention. Somehow several seconds had passed without my notice. "Are you all right, Lucidia? You're staring a little."

"Oh." My eyes came back into focus; they were fixed somewhere near his face. "Sorry. I guess that…" My thoughts wouldn't come out of my mouth in coherent words. I couldn't really even tell what I was thinking in the first place, either. A little uneasy, I made myself turn away from Alma.

I couldn't see him anymore, but I almost felt him smile again. "You get some sleep." A short pause. "I like you, Lucidia. You're a nice girl."

Something warm landed on top of my head. Alma's hand scratched my ears as though I was a dog, and they slowly turned back against my skull. My legs wouldn't move as long as they stayed there. I realized how sleepy I was – after all, the sun had already set.

"All right, that's enough." I couldn't help but chuckle. Sometimes my ears seemed to have a mind of their own, although they were really only there to express my emotions somewhere other than my face. I reached up to remove Alma's hand from my head. Half of a second after my fingers closed, I stopped. I was startled by how well I could feel the contours of his right hand. As though I had never felt a hand before, I mindlessly intertwined our fingers. His were thin and bony, but they had a firm grip to them as though they only sought to comfort somebody.

I took my arm back and silently turned back for the door. Even that night before I fell asleep I could still imagine the outline of Alma's hand in mine. His grasp had been lonely, not as though he wanted me specifically to stay there on the balcony, but as though they had never touched a living thing before that had survived to tell the tale.