“[color=FFE63D]Lead the way, Deelie.[/color]”

And Deelie did. She’d picked up early on how Quinn didn’t much like spearheading things, which was, again, entirely reasonable. Her having picked the place was an accomplishment itself, so today, Dahlia would lead the way, hold the doors, bring them to their seats, and Quinn could breathe a bit easier. 

The garden commons were bustling. This month had seen RISC’s numbers bolstered again, not quite to its strength before Hovvi, but enough that the Aerie didn’t feel like a ghost station anymore. Those had been hard weeks; Dahlia would come here now and then, to sit under the center pastel and imagine herself under the shade of the woods near her home. It was so quiet. What crew had remained worked in tight shifts, only a few dozen were ever around, spread so thinly around that for a while the only faces she saw besides Besca and Quinn were Follen, and the janitorial staff. 

Now the tables and benches were full. The cafeteria on the floor below was packed, and Danes above sounded much the same. Tohoki Grill was a proper sit-down place, with an [i]“outdoor”[/i] patio umbrellaed by scarlet tsubaki trees. Dahlia led the way inside. Lamps hung from the ceiling, their bulbs covered and set to flicker like dim candles. False windows were set into the wall, and behind them were digital screens that pushed artificial noonsun light through the slats. 

It smelled [i]good[/i] in here. Like fresh fish and spices, and meat cooking on open fires through the wide-windowed kitchen. The head chef was a heavy-set and absurdly happy man from Tohoki, who made a point of putting extra servings on the plates of his skinnier customers. Quinn often found herself a lucky recipient. 

A waiter brought them to a corner booth, secluded but not isolated—Dahlia never sat them somewhere where they were [i]entirely[/i] alone. They ordered their drinks, and took a third menu. Dahlia texted Besca where they’d settled.

“[color=skyblue]So what’re you feelin’? I might try the sake-saffron chicken—Besca says it was all she ate for a month once and she never got sick of it.[/color]”