"Did you ever wonder if you'd ever come back?" The green-haired Oni laying on her back next to Ch'en asks.
The question gives Ch'en a moment of pause. A moment where she's forced to reflect on all that's happened between her and her partner in the time since that day on the outskirts of Lungmen, where she had been confronted by someone who she had considered a partner in all things, someone who would understand her in all things, even if she didn't agree with her in all things.
That day had proven Ch'en wrong about some long-held beliefs, but right in other ways too. Despite having exchanged blows with Hoshiguma that day – there was still understanding between them. As evidenced by the fact that Hoshiguma was still with her, laying on her back on their conjoined cots underneath the night sky somewhere outside of Lungmen's typical routes. Ch'en wasn't really sure where they were anymore. Just that they weren't in Lungmen, and that they weren't in Rhodes Island either. Even though that was the endpoint of this journey.
The fact that Ch'en had revealed herself as infected that day, didn't mean much to Hoshiguma. There was understanding enough there, that Hoshiguma knew that Ch'en wouldn't have kept that secret from her without a good reason. It wasn't much of a secret either, at least nowadays, that Ch'en's former superior in the LGD – Nine, had also been infected. Likely having been infected at the same time that Ch'en had been infected herself.
"Why are you asking now of all times, Hoshiguma?"
"I dunno, was just thinking about all that's happened. It's hard not to think about how you end up in a place when you're staring up at the sky." Hoshiguma sighs, "But I guess I did spring the question on you with no preparation, so I'm not surprised if you don't have an answer for me."
"No no," Ch'en reassures her. "It's just that I've not had a lot of time to think about what happened either. It's not been that long, y'know?"
"It really hasn't, but it feels like it has… So much has happened since Paci Plaza." Hoshiguma admits.
There's a silence between them for a moment while Ch'en formulates what she wants to say.
"To be honest with you – I didn't know if I was gonna come back from Chernobog or not… And hell, without Little Miss Amiya being there. I don't think I would've."
"It was brave of you to go. Stupid, but brave." Hoshiguma points out.
"Talulah's my sister, Hoshiguma. At the end of it all, I wanted to know why she did what she did. Even if it was stupid of me to try and find out."
"And you got your answer?" Hoshiguma turns to look at Ch'en, breaking her glance away from the night sky above.
"Honestly? I don't think I ever will." Ch'en sighs as she watches Hoshiguma through the corner of her vision. "But that doesn't mean that it was all for nothing either."
"Oh?" Hoshiguma looks back up at the sky. And Ch'en turns her attention back to it as well. "What did you find then?"
Ch'en doesn't have an answer for her.
The next morning, the pair awaken to the sun cresting the eastern hills, and the twin moons falling to the western horizon in full, dazzling beauty.
They don't talk much, as Ch'en prepares breakfast using the embers of last night's fire, and the supplies in the saddlebag on Hoshiguma's motorbike. It would still be a couple of days before they arrived at Rhodes Island, and the quickest path, the one that they could both afford to, and were allowed to take – brought them across the arid lands of Terra, towards Rhodes Island by way of Hoshiguma's motorcycle. It was the only real way for Ch'en to make it to Rhodes Island, without attracting undue attention to Rhodes Island for harboring the Infected former chief of the Lungmen Guard Department, and without attracting undue attention to the LGD for having had an Infected as the Chief of Special Inspection Unit.
The whole situation was sudden, coming about because of the sudden return of Ch'en to Lungmen after the Chernobog incident, and needing somewhere to go that wasn't Lungmen's slums. Hoshiguma had been vehemently against the idea of Ch'en Hui-Chiei of all people, needing to go to the Slums to meek out a life as an Infected.
So, in a manner of speaking, this whole venture out towards Rhodes Island was entirely Hoshiguma's idea. If Ch'en had her way about things, she likely would've just waited until the next time Lungmen and Rhodes Island were nearby one another, and then just silently slipped aboard the land-ship, seeking refuge there among the Infected aboard ship. She would've been welcomed all the same and would have only needed to spend a couple of months in the Slums. Ch'en didn't mind the idea. But Hoshiguma did mind it.
And so, for once, Hoshiguma had her way about things. And thus, this 'road-trip' to Rhodes Island was born.
There was no stretch of the imagination that both Ch'en and Hoshiguma were in some way involved. From lingering touches, to stolen glances in meetings at the LGD, to even that time in Paci Plaza, where Ch'en had all but proposed to Hoshiguma back before Ch'en had revealed herself as Infected.
But all of that felt like ancient history, and the two had barely any time to see one another between the events that day, and Ch'en rushing to Chernobog. Until Hoshiguma had stopped her on her way out of the city.
Neither of them had talked about that day. Neither needed to. They both knew what had happened that day was something bigger than either of them. But they still both had their reasons for standing on opposing ends of the same ideology. And neither held it against one another.
This had been the way things always were between the two. The Lung woman being the more stubborn about her ideals, and the Oni woman being more steadfast in hers, but yielding to her superior.
Which would make it somewhat ironic, that Hoshiguma had been the one to come onto Ch'en, and not the other way around.
Neither of them talked about that night at their favorite bar after work, nearly three years ago. Especially now that Hoshiguma knew that Ch'en was Infected. It didn't feel fair to bring up. So, Hoshiguma didn't.
They ate their breakfast in silence, broke their campsite down, doused the remaining embers of their campfire, and set out again, headed in the direction of Rhodes Island.
They took turns driving the motorcycle. For a few hours, the first shift was Hoshiguma, mostly to make sure the bike was still running the way it should. They would break for water, and then swap who was driving, and who was riding. Ch'en, not having as much experience driving a motorcycle over unpaved terrain, would occasionally find Hoshiguma's hand steadying her own against the handlebar, supporting Ch'en using her own muscles. Never overcorrecting something that Ch'en was doing, but merely guiding and augmenting.
Ch'en silently appreciated it.
The sun beat down mercilessly on the pair as they rode. And neither commented on it. Ch'en kept the visor of her helmet down, and Hoshiguma rode with goggles on, shielding her eyes from the dust and bugs that would fly past as they made their way across the land.
On their second night, they made camp a similar way to what they had the night before. Ch'en gathered the materials to make a campfire, while Hoshiguma laid out their lean-to shelter, and their cots, while also looking over the motorcycle, and making sure that it was still fine.
It was her bike, after all.
Twilight would always start to set in by the time Ch'en got the fire going. Hoshiguma would prepare their dinner, trading off the effort that they underwent earlier in the day.
They ate in silence, and besides Hoshiguma commenting on how the supplies they had brought with them were generally just Meals-Ready-to-Eat from the LGD supply closet, there wasn't much conversation between them.
There didn't need to be.
"Do you hate me for trying to stop you then?" Hoshiguma asks Ch'en as the firelight dies out, and the two bundle up in their sleeping bags atop their cot.
"Why would I?" Ch'en responds, opening her eyes to the ceiling of the lean-to, and the black of the sky above.
"You made it out to sound like I was somehow like the Chief. Like I was just as bad as him, just for trying to stop you."
"I don't think you're just as bad as him. I just think that your thinking was as bad as his."
"But you don't hate me for it, right?"
Ch'en nearly laughs. "Where did this come from?"
"We have barely talked this entire time. And I just wanted to know where we stand when all's said and done." Hoshiguma shifts in her sleeping bag. Ch'en doesn't need to look to know that Hoshiguma has turned her back to her. "Goodnight, Captain."
Their conversation ends for the night.
The next morning, their pattern continues.
This time, Ch'en asks if she can take the first shift driving. Hoshiguma silently agrees, and lets Ch'en take the first shift of driving.
Around midday, they come across massive tracks in the arid dirt. Tracks that begin to run parallel to the direction that the pair are headed. Ch'en asks if they should continue to follow the tracks or follow their compass.
Hoshiguma thinks about it, before agreeing that the tracks are a better idea, and asks if it's her turn to drive.
Ch'en nods in agreement, and they change positions.
They ride alongside the tracks for the rest of the day, until Ch'en taps Hoshiguma's shoulder, and points at something on the horizon. Cumulonimbus clouds on the horizon. The tell-tale anvil-shape indicates that a storm is still developing in the distance.
Hoshiguma nods and brings the bike to a stop.
They find a good a spot as any to try and make camp. Especially if the rain is just going to put any fire they make out anyways.
The rain comes, and it leaves Hoshiguma and Ch'en huddled under their lean-to, as it passes overhead, soaking the feet of their cots, and drenching the bike in rainwater. The bike's supplies remain untouched by the rain, being in water-proof saddlebags. Hoshiguma's hobby and desire to have the nicest gear for her precious bike, being more than helpful in this case.
There was one problem, however – the bike was out there, as were the supplies, and between the two of them, they didn't grab anything to bring with them into the lean-to. This wasn't a problem for the first hour or so, but as the sky continued to darken as the sun threatened to dip below that rain-shrouded western horizon, the pair realized that one of them was going to have to brave the rain and the lightning to get the pair their dinner. They could do without a fire – there were chemical warming packs in each of the MREs, that they could use to heat their meals. But it still didn't detract from the fact that someone was going to have to get soaked.
Silently, Ch'en decides for the two of them who was going to get soaked. Silently, she stripped down to the barest minimum of clothes, and tucked them into a spot of the lean-to where they wouldn't get wet while she was gone. Hoshiguma silently watched. She didn't say anything about the new scars that she was sure weren't present on Ch'en's body the last time she saw her bare back, or the fact that there was discoloration on Ch'en's thigh, that she was sure was due to the fact that Oripathy was developing there.
That was something to at least be grateful for, the fact that Rhodes Island was the foremost of those who could treat Oripathy, those who could help prevent the spread of it further, keeping Ch'en healthy as she is now, for as long as possible. Something that Hoshiguma knew was going to be better for Ch'en, even if Ch'en didn't think so herself. There was something to be said about the fact that Ch'en was going to the one place that would accept her for who she is and was and would take care of her better than any place inside the Slums of Lungmen could.
There was a thought, however, while Ch'en raced out to the bike, and scrambled to pull the MREs out of the saddlebag, that itched the back of Hoshiguma's mind. She pushed it down as Ch'en came back, soaked to the bone, huddling over two MREs that were almost dripping wet from the torrential rains that cared not for the Lung woman's body trying to keep the rain from soaking the MREs too badly. Hoshiguma chuckled, and did her best to help dry off Ch'en, using Hoshiguma's hastily taken-off shirt, and wrapping her up in Hoshiguma's own riding jacket. In the shelter of the lean-to, there was no heat, so this did not stop Ch'en's teeth from clacking together as she shivered from the ordeal of having raced out to the bike and getting thoroughly drenched in the process.
"You're stupid, you know that, Captain?" Hoshiguma said, as she did her best to get the MREs ready for consumption.
Ch'en merely whispered a profanity in the Yan language, before taking one of the heating elements from Hoshiguma's MRE and huddling around it for warmth. The chemical reaction inside the packet emanating more than enough heat to warm the MRE, and then keep going to keep it warm and edible for the next few hours. Ch'en was more than happy to steal from her hapless subordinate in order to stay warm. Hoshiguma didn't mind, even as the cold air in the lean-to bit at her bare back and threatened to make her own teeth chatter in the cold. What she did instead, was unzip fully Ch'en's sleeping bag, and reached around the Lung woman, to wrap it around her as a kind of thermal blanket. Doing her best to keep her Captain warm, before wrapping her own sleeping bag around herself in a similar fashion.
"Thank you." Ch'en whispered after a moment passed between them. Hoshiguma didn't acknowledge this, and instead handed her the MRE that was now sufficiently warmed.
It was a soup, likely inspired by a recipe from somewhere that wasn't Yan or Lungmen – it didn't smell like home to either of them. But they dutifully downed their meal, and then clutched the remaining heating elements to their cores as they waited for the rains to subside.
Those rains did eventually subside, and it was at that point that the pair adjusted their cots, and settled down to sleep, still holding their heating elements and draining them of the last bit of chemical energy that the packets were willing to release.
There were no words spoken between them. There didn't need to be.
An hour, maybe two, passed with the pair having settled in for sleep, laying on their backs and willing themselves to sleep, before Ch'en eventually spoke in soft words that didn't feel like they came from her lips, but spilled forth, nonetheless.
"Hoshiguma?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"Can you hold me?"
Without acknowledgement, Hoshiguma rolled onto her side, facing Ch'en, and opened her sleeping bag, holding her arms wide as if for an embrace. And from her conjoined cot, Ch'en opened her own sleeping bag, and shifted across the space into Hoshiguma's sleeping bag.
Hoshiguma zipped up the sleeping bag again around both of their shoulders and could feel the smaller woman shiver against her body. The shivering continued until eventually, Hoshiguma wrapped her arms around Ch'en, and brought the smaller woman closer to her own chest. Using her own warmth as a way to help warm and dry out the still-damp Ch'en.
The shivering stopped when Hoshiguma felt the Lung woman's body release the held tension and drifted off to sleep. Feeling the way her breathing would soften, and her muscles no longer contract so hard against Hoshiguma's embrace.
It was only then that Hoshiguma allowed herself to fall asleep.
The next morning, the air was humid, and the scarce plants on the arid ground were wet with dew from the storm. Hoshiguma was the first to awaken and woke up to find Ch'en nestled against the crook of her neck. Ch'en's soft breaths feeling like they were condensing against Hoshiguma's neck as she did. She did her best to stay still, waiting for the woman snuggled up to her in her sleeping bag woke up of her own accord.
It didn't take long, maybe twenty minutes, until Ch'en woke up.
She rustled the bag, and Hoshiguma did her best to unzip the sleeping bag, letting the excess heat out from the bag, and sliding their bodies out from under it. Their clothes weren't completely dry, so instead, they decided to let the eastern sun dry them out as it began its ascent into the sky overhead.
They lost a couple hours of waiting for Hoshiguma's shirt to wring out the excess water, and Ch'en's shorts to dry enough that they weren't uncomfortable to wear for the ride ahead.
They continued their journey around midday, having lost a few more hours than they had initially planned that day. They made up the effort by driving well into the evening, following the massive tracks that the treads of the landship left behind.
They drove and drove, waiting for any sign of the landship, and there was some part of Hoshiguma's mind – the part that realized how late it was into the evening that they were driving, that wondered if the landship had deviated from its course at all, or had simply left them behind. She hoped not, it wouldn't do much good to have to drive all the way back, with Ch'en still in tow – there weren't enough supplies for both of them, which wasn't a tremendous issue, but was still an issue, nonetheless.
They rode along until the transponder on Ch'en's shoulder started beeping at them – a sign that they were within range of Rhodes Island's own proximity transponder. A system designed to warn other landships and nomadic cities where the landship was if it got too close. Instead of avoiding the signal, like a nomadic city would – they instead followed it, further and further until on the horizon did the lights of the landship come into view.
Rhodes Island was within reach.
Ch'en, while Hoshiguma drove them closer and closer, used her radio to request the landship to slow itself, and drop one of its cargo doors. Letting the motorcycle board, as had been planned.
As they drove closer and closer, did a wave of light emit from the rear of the landship – one of the secondary cargo doors had opened, and was dragging itself along the ground as the landship moved, letting the motorcyclists ride aboard the door freely.
They complied, and rode to the top of the ramp, before the door started to shut behind them.
It was only then, inside one of Rhodes Island's cavernous cargo bays, did Hoshiguma stop the engine of her motorcycle, and stretch where she was, while operators of all sorts from Rhodes Island began to crowd around the familiar strangers in the cargo bay. Cargo handlers, and medical personnel, and even a couple operators on a catwalk above, observing the arrival of Ch'en and Hoshiguma aboard the landship.
All of those present were confused why, suddenly, the Chief of the Special Inspection Unit of the LGD, and her subordinate had arrived on Rhodes Island by motorcycle of all methods.
Ch'en tried explaining who they were, and what they were doing here, but those present just seem confused and unsure. Until a Lupo woman, one wearing attire of blacks trimmed with blues, and twin swords holsters attached to her hips approached the Lung and the Oni.
"Miss Texas." Ch'en recognizes the Lupo woman and dismounts the bike at Texas' approach.
"Madam Ch'en, Miss Hoshiguma." Texas acknowledges the pair and gives her hand in greeting. Ch'en takes it. "Welcome to Rhodes Island. Have you both been aboard before?"
"Yes, we have. Sorry for taking so long to get here. We got stuck in a storm last night and needed to dry off this morning." Ch'en responds.
"Not a problem. We would've sent search-and-rescue out in the morning if we didn't hear from you by that point."
"Oh?" Hoshiguma grins, seemingly amused at the idea of Rhodes Island expending resources to find the pair of them.
"If you'd like, you can leave your motorcycle here, Miss Hoshiguma… Our cargo handlers will move it up to the top-deck in the morning, and we'll shuttle you back to Lungmen via air transit. It's just presently the night shift and we can't spare anyone at this exact moment." Texas explains.
"Not a problem. I wasn't planning on leaving right away anyways. And I appreciate the ride."
If Texas has any form of reaction to this, it doesn't show on her face, besides from maybe the slightest of raising of her eyebrows, although neither Ch'en nor Hoshiguma can tell if it's actually a movement, or perhaps just a trick of the light.
"If you'll follow me, I will bring you to your quarters, Madam Ch'en. Your formal onboarding will be tomorrow, as the Doctor is presently retired for the evening."
Texas turns to head towards the nearest hatch, and Ch'en and Hoshiguma follow, the contents of the saddlebags in tow.
"Miss Hoshiguma, apologies, but there's a spare bed in Madam Ch'en's room that you can sleep on tonight, all our guest quarters are occupied following the Chernobog Incident." Texas calmly explains, leading the Oni and the Lung further into the depths of Rhodes Island, which is a veritable maze of corridors and bulkheads. Ch'en does her best to remember which turns they make, and where it leads them, but fails to recall which corridors lead where in the coming days, often needing the PTRS system to guide her to where she needs to go.
"Not a problem." Hoshiguma responds before Ch'en has a chance to answer. "It's not the first time that I've shared a room with the captain."
If there's some sort of understanding of the subtext of the words that Hoshiguma uses, Texas gives no indication, and Ch'en suppresses the urge to smile at the presence of the subtext. The way Hoshiguma made things out to be, almost sounded like she was implying that the two hadn't been sleeping in the same sleeping bag the previous night.
Eventually, Texas silently led them to a room, and used a code to open the door to the room. "That was a one-time code. Tomorrow we'll get the door authenticated to your biometrics, Madam Ch'en." Texas explains. And then motions at the now open door. "If you'd like, I can have someone from the kitchen bring by food for you, if you need to eat still."
Ch'en and Hoshiguma look at one another. A silent conversation occurring between them. If there's any lilt of impatience with them making their decision, Texas doesn't show it, not that either of them would've noticed anyways.
"Yeah, that'd be nice. Better than LGD MREs." Hoshiguma turns back to Texas, the decision having been made between her and Ch'en.
This, Texas does smile at. Understanding the notion of having MREs for the last few days instead of real meals. "I'll have someone bring something by in a bit. Asides from that, Madam Ch'en, your onboarding is at eight hundred tomorrow morning."
"Understood, thank you Miss Texas."
Texas nods, says "Have a good night, and welcome to Rhodes Island, Madame Ch'en, Miss Hoshiguma." And then walks the way they came from, leaving Hoshiguma and Ch'en alone in the hallway. The two share a look, before Ch'en enters the room first. Followed by Hoshiguma.
Upon turning on a light, Hoshiguma gets a good look at the room. It's a fairly standard room, like the one that she'd found Ch'en in, after that time that Ch'en had been given slight medical treatment before the Chernobog incident. But all of that felt so long ago anyways. There was a common space, and then two adjoining bed spaces stemming off from the common space. Hoshiguma smiled to herself as she surveyed the room. If someone was planning on assigning Ch'en a roommate, they were going to find out quickly how Ch'en keeps her space, and if they're not a compatible person, it might be a bit strange for them to get adjusted to how the more orderly and refined Lung woman lives in her spaces.
"Home sweet home." Hoshiguma teases.
"Something like that." Ch'en says, either ignoring, or not realizing the teasing nature of the comment as she sets down the supplies that she was carrying on a coffee table in the middle of the space.
Hoshiguma does the same, before returning to the door and closing it, fumbling around with the control panel in the process.
"I'm going to shower, is that okay?" Hoshiguma asks, moving over to the small rucksack that sits on the coffee table, containing her clothes and a few toiletries.
Ch'en nods her assent. And Hoshiguma disappears into the bathroom attached to the dorm room, leaving Ch'en alone. After a few moments alone and hearing the water in the bathroom start to flow, Ch'en moves for one of the two bedrooms. She picks one at random, steps inside, and then flops down onto the mattress of its bed.
Hoshiguma, on the other hand, strips down, and steps into the flow of water of the shower. Taking care not to smack her horn against the showerhead as she does.
With the flow of water, comes days of driving with Ch'en, not being able to wash herself. The dirt of the land, and the sweat of effort of bringing the young Lung woman from her home that had rejected her for being an Infected, to a place that accepted all, regardless of their status as Infected or uninfected. Hoshiguma wasn't sure if she was more relieved to be showering for the act of showering, or relieved to have some space away from the quieter-than-normal Ch'en. Already, between the two, words weren't always needed. There was plenty that the two had communicated on that they didn't need to always communicate about. But now, this was one of those times where Hoshiguma wished that she was a better communicator. For all her strengths as an Oni, she still fell flat when it came to properly communicating her emotions.
Hoshiguma sighed in the steam of the shower, running her hand through her green hair, pulling out knots and tangles as she did. She wondered how long Ch'en would be like this. Nearly despondent compared to her normal demeanor. Maybe to most they wouldn't recognize this Ch'en as being any different than normal, but to Hoshiguma? The Ch'en that was in the next room was despondent as Hoshiguma had ever seen her. Maybe even more so than when Nine left the LGD. And Hoshiguma felt powerless to do anything about that.
It was because, at the end of the day, the reasons for Ch'en having to leave Lungmen, came down to something that neither of them could control. Something that Hoshiguma had no capability of knowing, and until that fateful day, had no idea about at all. There was something frustrating about it all. This helplessness.
At every other stage in her life had Hoshiguma been able to control what was going on around her. Had been able to at least have some effect on the world around her. But now? For the woman she loves? She feels powerless to change anything about Ch'en's situation. About Lungmen's stance on the Infected. About anything at all. The best she can do is coax Ch'en into agreeing that Rhodes Island is the best place for her. And she hates that fact. That she can't do more – for all her strength, for Hannya and for the fact that she is who she is – she hates the fact that she feels completely powerless.
She cleans up, uses what little soap she has, and what shampoo and conditioner is left in the travel bottles that she brought with her, rinses off, and then shuts off the flow of water. She finds a towel, towels off the best she can, before wrapping her hair into the towel, and getting as dressed in clothes that aren't dirty from riding across Terra, before exiting the bathroom.
Ch'en is waiting for her, sitting in front of the coffee table, with two bowls of noodles, one for each of them.
"You gonna shower?" Hoshiguma asks. Ch'en shakes her head. "Oh, okay."
Hoshiguma sits across from Ch'en at the coffee table and starts picking at her noodle bowl.
There's a silence between them. Not unlike the silence that has hung between them since the beginning of this whole trip to get Ch'en to Rhodes Island. But something about it has changed, in a way that Hoshiguma can't quite articulate, even innately to herself. Something about the silence now feels different. Feels closer to that of strangers rather than two people who would be considered lovers in any other circumstance.
The silence continues for more minutes as both of the women continue to pick at their noodle bowls, almost despondently.
Ch'en is the first one to break the silence between them.
"Hoshiguma?" She asks. Hoshiguma looks up from her noodles. "Do you hate me?"
Hoshiguma blinks, and looks down at her noodles before even beginning to think about the answer. Ch'en, however, is patient, and doesn't rush a response. She knows the fact that the answer she's about to be given, no matter what it ends up being, is going to be a hard pill to swallow. So it's better to get it out of the way now, better to have an answer, than to leave the question unspoken between them.
"You're a hard woman to love, Ch'en Hui-chieh." Hoshiguma admits. Smiling, yet not turning her gaze back up to the woman sitting across the table from her. "But that doesn't mean I hate you. The furthest thing from it, actually." She sets down her utensils inside the near empty bowl.
There's truth behind Hoshiguma's words, and in the way that she looks up at Ch'en – the way Hoshiguma tilts her head and smiles as she speaks these words.
"I hated you for leaving, without bringing me. Without trusting me to come along. It felt unfair that someone I trust, wouldn't trust me to come along with her to complete something that she believed so heavily in that she was willing to betray the trust of everything else she knows.
"I hated you for hiding that you're Infected from me… It doesn't matter much now, what's done is done, but I would've kept your secret if that's what you wanted. Or been your shield for you from the rest of the LGD, if that's what you wanted.
"I hated you for going and going without even knowing if you'd come back. You mean a lot to me, Ch'en," Hoshiguma uses her name again, not her former title. "And I don't know what I would've done if I'd lost you in Chernobog."
Ch'en doesn't have anything to say. She looks at Hoshiguma, and then back down at her bowl of barely touched noodles.
"I'm sorry." She whispers.
Hoshiguma stands up, and moves around the coffee table, kneeling next to the Lung woman, before pulling her into a hug.
Ch'en shudders against the embrace, breathing deep of the scent of Hoshiguma's soap and shampoo, before reciprocating the embrace.
"I'm sorry." Ch'en whispers.
"I don't hate you." Hoshiguma reaffirms. "The furthest thing from it… I love you, Ch'en Hui-chieh. And I always will… I just don't want to live without you. Don't go where I can't protect you… Please." She whispers these words against Ch'en's skin in the embrace. And silently, and without tears, Ch'en nods her agreement to this.
"I promise." She says in the Yanese tongue. And Hoshiguma smiles.
Ch'en doesn't finish her noodles that night. She and Hoshiguma talk, like they used to. Like friends yet something more than that. There was a different air between them. Even one that Texas picked up on in the morning she arrives to escort Ch'en to the Doctor's office for the official onboarding but doesn't react to. It would be improper of her to question what has happened between the two women, so she says nothing and gives no indication of reaction.
After the onboarding, and polite pleasantries between the Doctor and Hoshiguma, Texas leads Hoshiguma and Ch'en to the top deck, where Hoshiguma's motorcycle is waiting for her, surrounded by curious cargo handlers and operators who had heard from the rumor mill about the LGD officer and Ch'en arriving in the black of night aboard a motorcycle. At Hoshiguma's approach to her bike, the operators scattered like bugs, and practically hid from the Oni's gaze as she examined her bike to make sure it was still all okay.
Ch'en smiled inwardly at the meticulousness of Hoshiguma's inspection, reminding her of the thorough inspection that she herself underwent when she had come back from Chernobog in one piece.
Eventually, the heli-craft that would shuttle Hoshiguma back to Lungmen was wheeled out onto the deck, its hulk minimizing the size of the Oni and her own motorcycle as it was. The cargo door opened, and Hoshiguma wheeled the motorcycle into the bay of the aircraft.
There's no need for emotional goodbyes between Hoshiguma and Ch'en as the heli-craft's rotors begin to spin up, kicking up wind from its massive blades, there's no need for goodbyes at all between them. The contract between Lungmen and Rhodes Island is still in effect, the two will definitely see one another again, maybe even sooner than either of them expect to. But for now, the time they've spent together the last few nights will have to do in memory and in recollection as they comfort themselves about their departure from the safety of one another.
Ch'en's day and days after don't leave her much time to think about Hoshiguma, she's busy with onboarding and her work as part of being an Operator with Rhodes Island.
Hoshiguma, however, has a few hours aboard an airship to think about things. Somehow these thoughts are worse than just driving herself across the plains and arid land of Terra.
But there's nothing she can do, so instead she sits in the chair along the wall of the heli-craft and watches out the opposite window as the land that she was supposed to be driving along carries past as she's shuttled back to Lungmen.
She'll be afforded a couple days still to herself, since she had requested a whole week off, expecting the whole week to get to and from Rhodes Island. But now she's not going to need it. Instead, she'll just have time alone, time without anything or anyone to occupy the downtime that she now suddenly finds herself awash in. She wonders if she'll be allowed to come back early, and just surround herself in work, and in finding someone who will be the next Chief of the Special Inspection Unit. She doesn't look forward to the work either, really. So instead, she wonders if it'll just be better to take the extra days of downtime and run with it. Spend that time bar crawling, visiting old haunts that she hasn't been to in a while due to work and due to Ch'en occupying her downtime otherwise.
She crosses her arms, and leans back in the seat, resting her head against the hull of the heli-craft, feeling the vibrations of the engines reverberating through all parts of the hull, and trying to will herself to rest, even if ever so slightly as she tries to ignore the nagging at the back of her mind that she should go back for Ch'en. To be with her.
She can't.
Her duty is towards Lungmen, and the LGD. And Ch'en would never forgive her for forgoing that duty. She doesn't even think that she'd be able to face Ch'en if she did anyways.
As she starts to will herself into a rest during her flight, she whispers something softly, in the Higashi language. A blessing, perhaps, or maybe something closer to a prayer. Something that she had whispered to herself that same time that Ch'en had gone to Chernobog. Something that she would have a hard time finding an analogue for in Yan's language, or any language that wasn't the one she whispered in.
But it's what she feels, so she expresses it and it culminates in something close to the feeling of wanting her beloved to return safely to her.
Lungmen then feels empty to her, without Ch'en in it, just as it did when she left for Chernobog.
