Moonburnt

Aboard the Jaded Soul, Jaina Jade lay half-propped on the floor of a cargo bay, skin faintly glimmering in the dark. Occasionally the light would catch in a falling tear.

Artemisia manifested quietly in a shadow, hesitating to approach. The tiny pixie always did have trouble managing big things, though, and a clink of glass on glass betrayed her presence.

Abruptly Jaina blazed brightly and growled. "Who's there? Come out!"

Missy giggled—she'd been told the sound was pleasantly disarming, and anyway it covered her tension, she hoped—and lightly sprang forward. "Just me, Red."

"Oh." What energy Jaina had mustered faded with her light. A front, Missy realized.

"Who did you hope it was? An enemy to fight?"

"No. What? Why—I don't know." Jaina's skin flickered, barely visible in the dark.

Jaina didn't rise, so Missy didn't approach, instead seating herself on the floor. Jaina nursed a tumbler that whiffed of liquor. Nobody spoke.

When Jaina's glass ran dry, she dragged herself to a sitting position and began to look for the alcohol Missy had to have brought with her.

"Here." Missy flitted to the bundle and retrieved a bottle.

"Thanks."

Missy continued to wait. If the other person wanted to talk, they would. Same as always.

"It's Solstice."

Aha. "Is that special, here?"

"Not here. Home."

If here wasn't home, this was worse than Missy had expected. "You celebrate?"

Jaina shook her head, then winced. "No. Sorta. Glad to get that far, glad to get through. Wonder... I wonder who made it through."

"You did."

"No." Jaina grimaced, struggling against herself. "We're supposed to fight, together, against the darknesses. We're in it together. I'm supposed to be there and I'm not. I'm not together with anybody."

"You're together with me," Missy insisted, aware how ineffectual that would be, but needing to try.

Jaina dropped her gaze. Missy took the opportunity to manifest a glass of her own and indulge in her element.

"Between my main family and now, I had another family. Found family. We were all pretty different, but we got along and had good times.

"I tried to go back. It's harder, the longer between trips. Sometimes I can't get through anymore. This time... it was bigger, somehow? Not just one door gone. Whole worlds.

"I wanted to mark the day together, and I can't get to anybody, and I don't know if they made it or—" She sniffled against the knee of her jeans before continuing.

"Tried a few more. Nothing."

"Nothing?" Missy said in mock-astonishment. The very hyperbole, really.

"...nothing much," Jaina grudingly allowed. "Portals that don't open anymore, worlds full of strangers... a few portals that might open with more effort, but nobody there would remember me anymore."

"You might be surprised, Red. You've known humans and inhumans with long lives and memories."

"Yes. Fine. I can knock a few doors later, if it will get you off my case." (Missy checked to ensure she was not, in fact, seated on a beverage case.)

"I can't be the girl I used to be. I can't go back. I don't regret the choices I've made, at least not much, but I'm not okay with some stuff I didn't get to choose. Just for a bit, Green, I'm gonna sit with my sad.

"I miss them all."

Missy had no idea how to relate to that. She'd always been rather alone. "The ones who can't be together—what do they do? The ones out working or somesuch?"

Jaina snorted and wiped the back of her free hand against her eyes. "They complain about not being with the rest and how unfair that is."

Missy chuckled too. "Same old, right?"

"Heh, guess so!"