Chapter Text
Maya Fey must’ve been the happiest woman alive as she walked hand-in-hand with her liebling; Franziska von Karma, (who had patiently and diligently told her of all the German pet names for romantic partners, bless her heart) through the airport, where she would take her flight back home.
Only a day ago, she couldn’t have imagined she’d find herself in the position she was in now. A relationship with Franziska had always seemed like the plight of Tantalus in the underworld; what she desperately wanted looked possible, tangible, but always out of reach. Now, things were different. With that letter (that Maya would cherish for the rest of her days), Franziska had lowered the branches of the fruit trees, brought a little water up for her to drink.
Things would certainly not be the easiest, with Franziska bound to travel the world in service of INTERPOL and Maya destined to look after Kurain Village, but one of their most prominent common qualities was persistence, and they both knew that they'd stick together through thick and thin. Maya could handle that. Life could throw anything it wanted at her (though hopefully not any more wrongful murder charges), but there was nobody better to help her weather it than Franziska von Karma, and Maya wouldn’t prefer anyone else by her side.
Far sooner than either of them would have liked, they reached the line for Maya to check into the airport and begin her journey home. Maya turned to face her beloved and begin what she’d been dreading; their goodbye.
“Well, this is it,” said Maya, a twinge of sadness in her voice.
“It won’t be long until we see each other again, I promise you,” Franziska assured.
“How can you be sure? You’ve got to go where INTERPOL sends you, right?” Maya’s words sounded a little more hopeless than she’d intended them to come out.
“True, but you underestimate my seniority. When I speak, people listen.”
Ah, there was the cocky demeanour of Franziska von Karma that everyone knew, but Maya knew that wasn’t all there was to see. There were parts only she’d ever gotten to look at. Parts she never wanted to live without again.
“Well, I’d better get going. Bye now, hope we see each other soon!” Maya said her goodbye, a little less enthusiastic-sounding than she’d tried to be.
“I’m not letting you go that easily,” Franziska asserted.
Before Maya had time to ask for clarification, Franziska pulled her into a kiss. Maya brought her arms around Franziska’s back to return it, and the couple held onto one another as if for dear life for as long as they could hold their breaths. Eventually, they pulled apart, and Maya was left feeling warm and fuzzy inside, as she always did after they’d kissed.
“Much better,” Franziska said, something about the smooth sound of her alto voice never failed to make Maya’s hair stand on end.
“Yeah, much better,” Maya confirmed, voice hazy.
“Well, enjoy your flight,” Franziska’s voice picked back up as she said her goodbye. “See you soon.”
“Bye-bye meine Fräulein,” Maya said in a broken German accent that elicited an amused chuckle from Franziska, who retorted with “auf wiedersehen, schatz .”
“Okay, you win,” Maya joked. “Shoulda known better than to try and beat someone at their own native language.”
There was a brief pause, and neither party spoke. Then there was a second kiss, even longer than the first.
“Okay, I don’t have time for a repeat of last night,” Maya half-joked. “I gotta go, love you, bye-bye,” she sounded off in quick succession as she started to walk away.
“Have a safe flight!” Franziska shouted after her as she walked away.
“I will!” Maya returned.
“Call me when you land!”
“I will!”
“Don’t talk to strangers!”
“Come on, Franny!”
A brief pause.
“I love you!” Franziska gave her last shout.
“I love you too! Bye!”
And with that, Maya was off.
She already couldn’t wait for the next time she’d see Franziska again.
It hadn’t even been ten seconds after they’d lost visual contact and Franziska already missed her.
As Franziska made her way back home (with a chauffeur, this time. She didn’t intend to make a habit of driving herself around too often), she reflected on the last few days. Who knew that a little letter, as bizarre and foolish as it was, could go on to have such a profound effect on her life, and bring about such incredible change? Not that she was complaining, of course; she couldn’t be happier.
It seemed that yet another old adage was true; the world is full of lonely people waiting for someone to make the first move.
After a blur of reflective thought and relaxed riding, Franziska was at home again. She walked into her dining room and smiled, taking the little Sky Lily out of her hair and placing it in some water. It would die if she kept wearing it, of course, but she had every intention of obtaining some seeds of her own to grow. She was determined to have as many as she could get her hands on, which would of course require her to return to Kurain Village at least once (which was certainly not an unpleasant proposition).
The thought of returning to Kurain Village first made her heart flutter a little as those raven locks of hair flashed through her mind’s eye, and then it reminded her of what she needed to do (it seemed that, though in a way she certainly hadn’t expected, sending that letter had improved her focus and determination).
She went into the kitchen to get her laptop and brought it into the dining room to sit down to look at it (the couch she’d ordered with Maya’s guidance wouldn’t arrive until later). She opened it up and got to work on what she’d been planning since she’d been in bed last night. For most people, what she was planning would’ve been a major event in their life, requiring considerable saving and careful execution. For her, who’d amassed a considerable fortune in her relatively short career, and inherited a great deal from her father, it was a matter of some consideration, but not at all out of the realm of near possibility.
She was looking at Southern Californian real estate.