[attr="class","star1tsu4"]

[attr="class","star2tsu4"]It's a question with a complicated answer. More words come to mind than she could possibly convey. It feels like she could speak for hours and still have more to say about the events of the past few months, but who would that really serve? [break][break]

The councilwoman already has enough on her plate. [break][break]

"Well enough," she lies.[break][break]

They'd been taken by the aliens she'd cautioned against. Tsubaki had glimpsed Freya in the prison, though there was never any time to talk then, and even less when they were freed. Neither had they spoken about the death of the Top Champion, the uptick in violence around the region, nor the parasite she'd encountered alongside the councilwoman in the deep. Never in an unofficial capacity, anyhow. Black bile seemed to mock her, dredged up by occasional coughing fits during her morning routine, but she would wash it away and pretended she didn't see it. [break][break]

There were more important things to worry about. [break][break]

Meetings to schedule, messages to pass to and fro, accounts to manage. The more she needed to convey to her boss, the more she seemed unreachable, far too busy to concern herself with administrative tasks. Tsubaki had taken it in stride at first, but even the hardy girl who seemed capable of moving mountains, happily taking to extreme stretches of overtime to avoid confronting nightmares and sleepless nights, seemed frayed at the edges now.[break][break]

Time feels like sand slipping between her fingers...[break][break]

"Navy's left the gym to me."[break][break]

She changes the subject.[break][break]

Then, after a brief pause, she gazes on the yawning caldera. Staring directly into the heat seems to give her courage, in a way looking Freya directly in the eyes never had.[break][break]

"I'm putting in my two weeks."[break][break]

[attr="class","star3tsu4"]