[color=ffe63d]Love you too,[/color]" she echoed as Dahlia left for sims. She was left alone in the dorms. As always, being suddenly alone came with a sudden spike of anxiety, though she'd learned how to manage it by now. Breathe in, breathe out, just like Besca had taught her. It always helped. So letting that anxiety fade away, she rested her elbows on the table and placed her cheeks in her cupped hands, trying and failing to figure out what was going to happen before it did.

"[i]...These requests are expected to hit the desk of the RISC’s Board of Directors together later this evening..."[/i]

And just like that, the anxiety came [i]screaming[/i] back.

Quinn wasn't an expert on international law. Her only education therein thus far had been a brief crash course on Casobani and Helburkan pilot culture in advance of the duel. But if Roaki were arrested and taken to [i]Helburke[/i] for [i]murdering five people...[/i]she didn't need a college degree to know what the punishment would be. And if the CSC got ahold of Roaki, well, there was certainly no lost love between her and Casoban. She'd just end up in Helburke in the end anyway. Eusero would use her as a bargaining chip and get her there too, if a little bit later. Just about the only safe place [i]left[/i] for her was RISC.

And that was the problem, wasn't it? Quinn felt a sudden knife stab down through her chest. She'd thoughts that she'd been taking a risk just taking Roaki out of [i]holding,[/i] and had been worried what the Board would do to the people she cared about as a consequence. But the stakes had suddenly become so much higher.

What would they do in the face of an international incident?

She stood so abruptly that she knocked over her chair and it clattered to the ground behind her as she started pacing. 

What should she do? 

What [i]could[/i] she do? 

She didn't want to fail Roaki. She wanted so desperately not to. The girl's haunted eyes from yesterday, her stammering speech, the horror that had visibly shot through her as soon as Quinn had touched her hand and her resignation towards death, they all played back in her head. If she let her go back to Helburke and be killed, she knew right away that she would [i]never[/i] be able to forgive herself. The wound would remain within her for the rest of her life. She couldn't, she just couldn't.

But it was becoming increasingly obvious to her how little choice she had in the matter. Her pacing slowed. She stared at the floor. Some hero she was turning out to be. Besca wouldn't be disappointed in her, would she?

She jumped as her reminder alarm rang. Ah. That was right. She had to have her weekly evaluation with Doctor Follen in the next few days, since a few days of the week had been lost from the whole proceedings of the duel. It was almost funny to her, what with all the examining that he'd been doing of her in the past few days. She'd gotten out of the ward just yesterday, after all. But she'd already deferred the last one from her frantic training, and the absolute [i]last[/i] thing she wanted to do today was to make the Board [i]angrier[/i] by blowing off the schedule that they set for her. 

But she didn't mind, and she didn't want to miss it anyway. Doctor Follen was super smart. He would come up with something, maybe. And...he was important, wasn't he? Had some pull with the Board? Maybe he could talk to them somehow.

She didn't know, but it was worth a shot, right?

So mind made up, she picked up that chair, slid on her shoes, turned off the TV, and started off to medical.

[i]...Again.[/i]