There was a noise in the air, a sound that grated against her ear, slithered into her brain, and rasped away at the comforting coccoon of sleep like a water running over soft sand. With little grace and almost no dignity, Indy clawed her way back to consciousness, an atavistic part of her protesting the whole time. Awake, and with a headache that seemed on the cusp of bursting out of her skull, Indy couldn't help but notice that the world seemed to be rocking gently from side to side, every movement accompanied by a quiet slap of water against wood. A moment later, when recent memory joined the flood of awakening sensations, Indy could do nothing but lay back and wonder if this had been a good idea.

She groaned, a whole lungful of sound. Moment by moment, realizations and certainties slid into place. This wasn't her bed, but she reached out for the battered clock radio and jammed her thumb its alarm-off button without even opening her eyes. There were scents on the pillowcase that were intensely, blushingly familiar, stirring the quiet parts of her brain. She guessed that the pillow itself had, at least, been replaced sometime in the last year - a small blessing. She made to roll over and suppressed a yelp, tingles crackling up her arm where she'd crooked it under her head all night.

With care, Indy wriggled and straightened her arm out, using her free hand to rub blood back into it. The tingling faded, and she opened her eyes at last. The ceiling above still had the same water stain, the walls were still the dark wood panels they had always been and probably would always be. Sunlight glowed behind a gauzy curtain, bathing the room in gentle light. She was alone, but there were smells floating down the short hallway. Indy scrubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sighed, then flicked the covers off herself with a rustle of fabric.

"Morning, beautiful," came a voice from another room, the edges of the words rounded by a Canontese accent.

"Not in the mood, Li," Indy said, her voice crackling. She swung her legs off the bed and sat up before immediately leaning over, elbows on her knees.

"Oh, gods." She held her head in her hands and tried to shove the headache back inside her skull, before looking down at herself.

"Mmnf," she managed after a moment, "Li, where are my clothes?"
 
"Hanging in the closet," Li said, "You slept through the dryer going off? You really must have been worn out." Li's voice turned playful, "Then again, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

With a wordless mumble, Indy managed to shove herself to her feet and shuffle across the old but still soft, memory guiding her more than anything else. She dressed, and if she was pulling on yesterday's outfit, at least everything was clean and, to her immense surprise, folded and pressed. 

"You can take the woman out of the laundry," Li said, "But you can't...oh, whatever. Come on, breakfast is ready."

Unsteady steps brought Indira from the bedroom - small and close but cozy for all of that - to the tiny kitchen, an alcove to one side holding a table that was just barely large enough for two plates and round bamboo baskets clustered tight with small steamed [i]bao[/i]. She ran her hand along the familiar wall, fingers bouncing against the old wood paneling in the same way she remembered. Carefully, she lowered herself into the chair closest to the window, the one where the old window-mounted air conditioner blew the coldest. Indy raised one hand, rubbed her eyes again, and let out a long, jaw-popping yawn.

"Can you believe we used to fit on that bed?" Li said, plopping down in the chair opposite. "Go on, eat. You're useless without something in your stomach." Without ceremony, she picked up a pair of bright red lacquired chopsticks and snatched a bun, popping it in her mouth with a sigh of pleasure.

Indira felt like moving her arm took much more effort than usual, but by the time she'd even thought up a complaint, muscle memory took over. She scooped up a small plate - something that Li, apparently, had no use for - and used another pair of red chopsticks to lift a trio of small buns onto it. Li watched with evident amusement, but let Indy finish chewing before she spoke again.

"So," Li said, "About last night, hm?"

Indy swallowed and looked over, "You're rather casual about this," she said. 

"Life is made to take lightly," Li replied, "And you don't have to explain yourself to me, if you don't want to."

Indy put another bun in her mouth and chewed slowly, thoughts sluicing past one another in her mind. 

"Tell me what you think happened," she said, carefully.

Li tossed another bun into her mouth, a grin spreading across her lips, "I saw you overpower five men with automatic rifles, dressed in a tweed jacket with elbow patches," she pointed her chopsticks at Indy, "Not someone who looks like you, not someone hiding in shadows, I saw [i]you[/i]. Really good lighting around here, you know? And you were doing it using magic or some kind of space technology or some fucking thing."

"Not exactly a journalistic description," Indy said with a smirk.

"Yeah," she said, "That's what happens when you get fired. Oh, and then there was the part where you took a grenade to the chest and lived."

"It didn't actually hit me," Indy began, but then Li jumped out of her chair and pointed with the chopsticks, triumphant.

"[i]Ha![/i]" she said, "I knew it! So which one are you? Wait, no, forget about that - is [i]that[/i] why we broke up? You said that was about your Ph.D program." One side of her mouth quirked into a lopsided grin.

"Li, I..." Indy trailed off, then sighed, "No, that was really the truth. I promise."

"Mm-hmmn," Li said, her voice half-dubious, "Not gonna say?"

"Look, this is kind of new, okay?" Indy said, "I-"

The boat rocked again, this time with heavier motion, enough to rattle the cups and saucers together on the table between them. Indy and Li both stood, Li with another bun in her chopsticks. The room's small window afforded a view further down the coastline, toward the port, and they both saw the column of thick, dark smoke pouring into the sky. The air was already filling with the wails of emergency responders, and they could both see flashing lights making their way through the service and frontage roads toward a warehouse district.

"You gotta go?" Li said, tossing the bun in her mouth.

Indy looked pained, and turned toward the other woman. She opened her mouth, but Li spoke first, around a mouthful of bun.

"Mm-mn." She swallowed, "I get how this relationship is gonna be. Go on." She waved a dismissal with her chopsticks.

"Wait, what time is...oh, no," Indy looked down at her watch, then back at the rising column of smoke, "I can't. I have a class at 11:00."

"Simple or advanced?" Li said, finally setting her chopsticks down.

Indy looked nonplussed, "It's a 201, why?"

Li just shook her head, "Lecture or a lab?"

"Lecture, but why-" Indy began.

"Not a problem," Li said and she stepped forward, reached into Indira's jacket in a way that could only be considered intimate, and pulled out her university ID badge. "I can fake a lecture. You think the faculty is really going to know the difference between one short brown woman and another? Besides, sometimes it's nice to get stared at by teenagers." She smirked, lips curving wickedly, "I'm charging you a kiss, though. A good, long one. But later."

"There might be a lab course if I'm not back by this afternoon," Indy said, her voice careful.

Li chuckled, low in her throat, "Mmn. Then it's not going to just be a kiss," she said.