Aura’s bemusement shone clear on her face as he got up to find ice and clean clothes. It was an almost surreal feeling—being more comfortable and at home at Loor’s party, with enemies left and right than here, in his home, with Aura. 

[b]”A change of clothes sounds lovely.”[/b]

He tried to swallow his anxiety as he found some thick cloth and luckily had a few bits of ice still in his freezer, which he wrapped up. He also found some clean clothes and placed both beside Aura before sitting back down. 

As she tried to recount her experience with Loor, Kieran quickly quelled his immediate feelings of rage. How terrible that must have been. What he must have said or done to have placed her in such a position. But this was no time to mention his own thoughts. 

Instead, he waited—listened—and nodded his agreement when she suggested they don’t discuss it. 

“What matters is he’s dead,” he said briefly, nearly to himself. A complication, sure, but of what use was hindsight now?

“This is my jurisdiction,” Kieran said briefly as Aura made mention of a paid runner. “They’ll be hesitant to come directly here. I have a bit of a reputation for protecting it.” 

Kieran thought briefly to a time a subsection B runner came to the docks to try to make a deal with some of the Port Boys. Of course, they told him, and Kieran met up with the runner in a bar about a week later. The poor runner couldn’t see his sucker punch coming from a mile away. Kieran must have knocked out four teeth that night when he was only going for a broken nose. 

[i]’His fault,’[/i] he thought to himself. [i]’Should have seen it coming.’[/i]

“I’ll need to hash out my cover story with AA,” Kieran mentioned after Aura spoke of getting some stuff from Del. “After that, I might be able to sort something out with Del and your things.”

Kieran’s somewhat austere face softened somewhat as Aura mentioned their deal. He had almost forgotten about it, given tonight, but the mere mention of alcohol gave him an excuse to calm his nerves a bit. Even if it meant being more honest than he wanted to be. 

Although, what was the goal now? With Loor dead and the laptop stolen, and with Aura separated from the rebellion, he had few opportunities to get connected enough to take them down from the inside. Whatever Aura shared now, even if it did take out the rebellion, did he really want to live in subsection A? What was the point of that lifestyle? 

Kieran briefly thought of the others living in town. The whispers he had heard about going against the grain when it came to Apex Authority. He had often wondered—when the last leader fell, and the flags came down—who would run Apex then? 

He knew that the retrograde name of the city had been something with an “S.” Seaborn? Settler? Perhaps that town would rise again.

Or, perhaps the entire city crumbled. And Kieran would need to go wherever his parents did. South, north, or over the mountains to the east. To whatever was beyond Apex. 

But all of that could wait. All of that lay outside the walls of his home. In here, was Aura. And his things. 

And a lot of ale.

“Well, if you’re as good as dead to them,” he said, rising from the floor and taking her empty cup, “I suppose it’s time to talk.” 

He pulled a second cup from a shelf and filled them both to the brim with a barrel of ale that had been fermenting so long it may have been whisky. The stuff tasted foul, but it did its job nicely. It should serve them well tonight.

He returned and handed her the cup back. He sat, thinking back to the first time they attempted to chat over drinks. If he remembered correctly, Aura had little interest in playing drinking games then. 

How much had changed in a few short days. 

He drank from his cup—several large glugs of the stuff, enough to burn in his nostrils and bring wetness to his eyes—before lowering it once more. “Let’s not waste any time then,” he said through a choked throat, of his drink and the conversation alike. He cleared his throat, then continued. 

“Whatever gets us out of here.”

He thought for a moment after his statement. Did he mean to get them out of the situation with the rebellion? Or Apex itself? 

Not even he knew the answer to that one. But he leaned forward and listened anyway.