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Nita was peeved. Eight years on errantry, give or take, hadn't nearly prepared her for the experience of university finals week, which seemed ridiculous. She felt like Sisyphus, fighting an endless uphill battle to memorize one more formula, one more enzymatic process. Ronan once told her that Irish wizards had no manual -- they carried every spell they knew and all those they'd one day need to know by memory. With one week of finals down, Nita had gained a huge amount of respect for Ronan and his peers. The manual was a lifetime's worth of knowledge. She only needed a year's worth, and already her brain felt ready to crack in two.
Nita had stayed up until two every night of the last week, studying for her biochemistry final, and she'd been up at eight every morning. So she was understandably less than thrilled when she was dragged out of warm, lovely sleep, on the one night that week she'd allowed herself to go to bed early, by a mental poke.
Neets?
She shoved her head under her pillow. Wrong number. At least for another five hours.
Telepathy is stronger between wizarding partners than strangers. Not only did she hear Kit’s mental laugh, she also got a distinct impression of his quick grin, a crinkling at the corners of his eyes, and a flash of warm affection somewhere in the vicinity of his chest.
Just real quick, he promised. What’s the formula for universal gravitation, again?
Force equals gravitational constant times the two bodies’ masses, divided by the distance between them squared, she rattled off immediately. Wait, how do you not know that? I know that, and I just woke up.
I’ve kind of been awake for like twenty-three hours, he said sheepishly, and sure enough, she could feel it now that her brain was a little more alert, the slump in his spine and the yawn building in the back of his throat. Either it was contagious or she really needed to end this conversation and get back to sleep, because she found herself pressing a palm to her mouth to muffle a yawn of her own.
Working on something big? she asked.
She felt him shrug. You’re not here, so someone’s gotta keep this town from going to the dogs.
Nita bit her lip, twisting her hands together under her covers. I'm sorr-
Don’t start, Kit said, rolling his eyes. None of us blame you for moving away, so ease off the guilt, Neets.
Yeah, yeah. Then, a thought hit her, and – Couldn’t you have just checked your manual for the formula?
Kit paused. Huh. Didn’t think of that.
You really are tired, she said. She turned over onto her back, staring at the ceiling. A grin tugged at her lips. Or do you just miss me?
You wish, he said, grinning back at her from afar. Go sleep, Neets. Sorry for waking you.
No biggie. And get some sleep yourself, alright?
She got a brief impression of where he was – the crunch of leaves underfoot, the brisk morning air turning his breath into clouds of mist and drawing shivers down his spine – and then the connection closed. She huffed, still feeling the cool wind from his end on her skin like a ghost’s touch. Twenty-three hours without sleep. Here she was, writing her first set of university finals ever, and he was taking worse care of himself than she was. If she’d been there, she would have punched him in the arm, knocked some sense into him; as it was, she simply made a mental note to check up on him via her manual later in the day, then rolled onto her side and shut her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep again.
When she woke up again four hours later, the bed across the room was empty, and, as usual, unmade. Nita had never thought of herself as a particularly tidy person but her roommate was on a whole other level. Nguyet made up for it by being basically the best person ever in every other area, though, so it wasn’t really a problem. It just meant Nita had to search for a few minutes longer than she otherwise would have to in order to find the cereal they were keeping in their room against dorm regulations.
She poured herself a bowl – she’d picked up the habit of eating it dry, since they didn’t have a mini-fridge and, with finals, she hadn’t had the energy to drag herself out to the cafeteria in the cold every morning – and settled herself down at her desk. A quick thought called her manual to her hand. She flipped it open, turning towards the registry and Kit’s name. Sure enough, he was listed as active status, with a reference number for the page where his recent work was summarized.
The door banged open to her left and Nguyet entered, her cheeks rosy from the cold. “It is freezing!” she said, shutting the door behind her and starting to yank off her layers. “And if we don’t have at least a foot of snow tomorrow I’ll eat my physics textbook.”
“No way. I have my biochem final tomorrow,” Nita said, flipping through her manual to the précis on Kit’s work. “The One may appreciate our work, but It doesn’t appreciate it that much.”
Nguyet laughed. “Yeah, okay, don’t trust the meteorology specialist. Good plan, Neets.”
“I trust you!” Nita said. She grinned crookedly. “But the laws of the universe – and of Murphy – say there’s no way I’m getting out of this. I’ve accepted my fate. Besides, this is California. It never snows in California.”
Nguyet kicked off her boots and collapsed onto her bed. “You’ll see. Anyway, I’m going to the library to study physics today. You in?”
“Yeah, sure,” Nita said, distractedly, scanning her manual. Apparently Kit had just this morning wrapped up a situation not so unlike their Ordeal. Some non-terrestrial life form accidentally appeared on Earth (in the middle of the produce aisle of the grocery store a few blocks from Kit's house, according to the manual) and needed a wizard’s hand in getting back where it was meant to be.
A hand appeared in Nita’s peripheral vision, gripping the edge of her desk, and then Nguyet was leaning over her shoulder. She squinted down, reading for a second, then grinned, poking Nita in the shoulder. “Checking in on your brujo?” she teased.
“Shut up,” Nita said. She ducked her head to hide the blush that heated her cheeks, but she was pretty sure Nguyet had her number. “He called me at three in the morning – six his time -- asking me for a formula normally used to calculate the force between planets. For all I knew he could have been messing with whole solar systems.” It wouldn’t be the first time, she didn’t add.
“And was he?” Nguyet asked, stealing a handful of cheerios from her bowl.
“No, thank the Powers.”
Nguyet laughed. “Well, barring immediate solar system-level disaster, I’m going to be heading to the library in fifteen. That work for you?”
“Sounds good,” Nita said. Nguyet nodded, and collapsed onto her bed. Not thirty seconds later, she was snoring. Nita snorted. No one, no one, could power nap like Tran Hung Nguyet could.
For most of her high school career, since she became a wizard, Nita had been mostly planning on attending a local college. She didn’t consider herself a particularly ambitious person, and it would be cheaper, too. Besides, she’d seen other galaxies – what difference would another city make?
Tom and Carl had disagreed. Tom had gone to university out of state, in his day, and loved it. There’s a difference, he’d said, between visiting somewhere and living there. And Nita remembered her summer in Ireland and couldn’t disagree. They'd put her in contact with other wizards her age who would be attending universities outside of New York; one of these was Nguyet, who'd decided she wanted to try life away from her twin, if only for the four years of an undergraduate physics program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. When they'd first met, Nita had taken an immediate liking to Nguyet, but they hadn't seen each other again since that dark night on the Moon. So, Nita had chatted with Nguyet a few times, then she'd filled out an application to UCSC.
One of the tenets a wizard must live by is that there are no coincidences. And now, here they were.
She flipped back to Kit’s entry in the registry. The pages seemed to fall open there on their own, and she thought that, while so far her manual had never taken any damage, no matter what she subjected it to, sooner or later it was going to develop a crack down its spine opening to Kit’s name. It was so different being away from him, and they were both so busy. Except for exams season, Nita had been on active status all year, and he had been too. And it seemed like problems – or opportunities for solutions – were arising faster than they used to.
Nita popped a few more cheerios into her mouth -- and nearly spat them back out when she read Kit’s listing in full.
On active status Assignment location:
#311, 101 McLaughlin Dr
Santa Cruz, CA
95064
(555) 379-8971
That was her dorm address staring back at her. She gaped at it for a moment, uncomprehending, then she rushed to find her own name, getting a papercut or three in the process. Sucking her thumb, which bore the worst of them, into her mouth, she drew her left index finger down through Calon, Calund, Calum, and Callad to Callahan and, sure enough, there it was – On active status.
“No way,” Nita said, staring down at it wide-eyed. “Oh, They have got to be kidding.”
At that very moment, there was a pop, the sound of air being unceremoniously shoved out of a space in all directions. Nguyet flailed awake at the sound, tumbling sideways out of her bed, and Nita stared at Kit, who was suddenly standing in their dorm room, wild-eyed and more than a little disheveled.
From the floor, there was a muffled groan. Then – “Dai stiho, cousin,” Nguyet said, glaring up at Kit. “You couldn’t have called first?”
Kit stared at Nita for another moment, then turned to offer Nguyet a hand. “Dai, cousin. Uh. Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nguyet said as she rose, wincing slightly. “Not like I needed an intact pelvis for anything.” She winked at Nita, though, which took the sting out of her words.
In a lot of ways, Nguyet reminded constantly of Carmela, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one – instead of responding, Kit just rolled his eyes exaggeratedly then returned his attention to Nita. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, grinning sheepishly at her. “So,” he said. “I kind of thought you were maybe in trouble.”
“I am,” she said, rubbing her knuckles against her temple in a don’t-you-even-dare gesture at the headache she could feel threatening. “I have my biochem final tomorrow and I’ve been returned to active status. If that doesn’t spell trouble – for my GPA, and possibly the world -- then I don’t know what does.”
“Wait, you’re back on active?” Nguyet said, glancing wide-eyed between them. Then she grabbed her iPad off her bedside table, her fingers flying over the surface through the interface that was her manual. A moment later she let out a triumphant whoop, punching her fist into the air. “Sabbatical status, sucker!”
“Not fair!” Nita groaned, dropping her head into her hands. “Physics isn’t for another two days!”
“Aw, Neets, don’t be like that,” Nguyet said, reaching out to kick Nita’s feet lightly. “The Powers do what they will, but they’re not cruel. It’ll all work out, don’t worry. Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, right?”
“I don’t think the Powers care much about my biochemistry mark, Nguyet,” Nita said glumly. “It’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Repayment from the Powers tends to come in the form of not dying, not straight As. They're 'big picture' people.”
Nguyet sighed as she rose and began to pull on her coats and then her boots. “Tell that to my brother. Hasn’t studied a day of his life and he’s aced every exam he’s ever faced. What else could it be but divine intervention?”
Nita dropped her face into her hands, then looked up when Nguyet's knuckles bumped against her shoulder. If it looks bad, give me a call, okay? Nguyet said, silently.
Nita smiled. You got it. She batted Nguyet’s hand away, and out loud, she said, “Happy studying.”
“Yeah, sure,” Nguyet said, laughing. “Good luck, guys. Nice seeing you, Kit.”
Kit waved, and then Nguyet was gone, the door slamming behind her. The noise was like a knife that cut the wires holding them up – Kit slumped back onto Nita’s bed, and Nita’s shoulders drooped. “I have no idea how she has so much energy,” she said. “It’s finals. I’ve never felt this tired in my life, and that’s including the ten day nightmare of an intergalactic road trip that was the hunt for Memeki.”
“Sounds dire,” Kit said, muffling a yawn into his fist. “Can’t wait for next year.”
Nita laughed, and it sounded more than a little hysterical to her own ears. He cocked an eyebrow at her, and she rose from her chair to collapse beside him on her back. For a moment, they lay still, then Kit shifted onto his side. She turned her head to meet his eyes; he grinned tiredly at her, and that warm affection she’d felt hours earlier was there. “Hey, Neets,” he said. “Long time no see.”
She smiled back, and then either he leaned in or she did -- or maybe they fell together -- but then they were kissing, and it was like no time had passed at all.
She curled a hand around the back of his neck. He’d cut his hair short again; it’d been getting longer last time she’d seen him, his bangs hanging almost into his eyes. The shorter hair at the back scratched lightly against her skin, and she ran her fingertips over it, smiling into his lips.
Didn’t miss me at all, huh?
“Dream on, Neets,” he said out loud, breaking the kiss and grinning down at her, but then, a moment later: Maybe a little. Or kind of a lot.
She grinned back. “Wizards shouldn’t lie, Kit,” she said, then planted her hands on his shoulders and shoved, hard, until he was the one on his back, and she could lean in and kiss him, feel his familiar warmth under her.
Two minutes later, Nita's phone buzzed with a text message from Nguyet: the pwrs didn’t put u on active so u could bang ur bf.
Nita scowled. “You don’t know that for sure,” she said, but she was already pulling away reluctantly.
Kit tipped his head back into her pillow and laughed.
Since they hadn’t exactly been given any hints about why she’d really been returned to active status, it seemed like the best thing to do was to make themselves available. In Nita’s experience, if a wizard was needed, a wizard would be found. So they bundled up – Kit had to borrow one of Nita’s jackets, which was hilariously tight across his shoulders – and went out to find some trouble. Or rather, to let trouble come to them.
“So this is Pogonip,” Kit said as she led him into the woods. “I read there’s at least eight miles worth of trail. We’re – uh – we’re not going to cover all of that, are we?”
“I’ll let you off the hook just this once,” she said, tossing him a quick grin. “Because you’re apparently incapable of taking care of yourself. Really, Kit, twenty-three hours straight?”
“Whatever, Neets, like you haven’t done the same before,” he said, and while she couldn’t see him, she could hear the pout that accompanied it, and she laughed. He jogged a little to catch up to her, then, so they strode along the path side by side. The trees broke the rays of sunlight into shadow patterns, and Nita glanced down to the forest floor to see them weave and break among the roots that strayed into the path. Then she laughed again – she and Kit had unconsciously adopted the same stride, so they went left-right left-right in time, like soldiers marching in formation.
When she looked up and caught Kit’s eyes, he was watching her with a kind of unbearable softness. The patchwork sunlight caught his face, highlighting the tiredness that pulled at the corners of his eyes but also the unrelenting shine in them, and she’d missed him, this, so badly. Having him at her side. Even when neither of them were saying anything, his warmth was a constant presence at the back of her mind, a low hum of his thoughts, just by virtue of their physical closeness. She hadn’t realized how quiet it was, being on the opposite side of the country as him.
“Earth to Neets,” he said, nudging her with his shoulder.
She shook her head once, then chuckled. “Right, sorry. I was going to say – maybe once I could have pulled that off, but we’re not as young as we were, Kit.”
“It’s true,” he said, sounding so sincere that she glanced at him, surprised. He maintained that damn perfect poker face of his for a few moments, then it cracked as a cheeky grin spread across his face. “I’m looking into ordering you a walker for your birthday, actually.”
She punched him lightly in the arm. “Don’t jinx us,” she said. “We’ve come close to needing walkers for non-age-related mobility problems before. Don’t tempt fate. But what I meant was – we don’t have that kind of power at our backs anymore, Kit. We can’t stay on our feet all night working and not feel it the next morning.”
“You’re telling me,” Kit said, muffling what had to be his third yawn since they’d hit the trail.
“You brought it on yourself,” Nita teased, but hey – she’d gotten a solid amount of sleep the last night, so she thought a few short words in the Speech, inviting in the slow, leeching feeling that settled into her muscles and bones for no longer than a second. At the same time, her mental awareness of Kit brightened; as some of her energy passed to him, he became more fully awake and alert.
He came to a stop, frowning slightly. "You didn’t have to do that," he said. "You have an exam tomorrow, Neets!"
"Which I won’t be able to attend if I pull a muscle in my back trying to carry you home after you collapse with exhaustion." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, if we run into trouble, we both need to be alert enough to handle it, right?"
He made a face and resumed walking. "You’re much too sensible," he grumbled.
“That’s the other thing,” she said, keeping pace easily. “Without all that power, you need to be a lot smarter about how you use what you have. A lot of my coursework this year isn’t new to me, but it’s stuff I only knew intuitively before. Being able to put words to it – to know every step of the process used in cells to make energy, for example – actually makes the spellwork easier.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. For a while I wondered what the point was, studying your specialty, when you already have a natural intuition for it. But I get it now.” She waved a hand broadly, gesturing at the trees around them, the stretch of meadow they were approaching. “We talked a lot about interspecies interactions and linked evolution paths in one of my classes this term. So now, if I can find the problem, I can make an educated guess about the source of the distress right off the bat, based on the networks I'm familiar with and the symptoms I know about. It saves a lot of time, let me tell you. It's a lot less hit-and-miss than what I used to do."
“And is there? Distress?” Kit asked, staring out at the woods around them. She smiled at the expression of determined focus on his face. His brows were drawn together in an expression of almost concern, and he was chewing on his lip absently. He’d gotten better at opening himself to connections with living things, but it would never be natural to him the way it was to her.
She shrugged. “Not that I’m hearing.” They stepped into the meadow, and although it was bitterly cold – colder than she had believed Santa Cruz could get – there was still so much life in it. The life was admittedly unsuited to the temperatures it was experiencing, but it was adapting, as life was wont to do. It didn’t need them for this. Nita breathed in the smell of green things and felt a fresh burst of energy revitalize her, not unlike what she’d done for Kit.
“Maybe we should stay out for a while longer. Just in case,” Kit said, his voice casual, shoving his hands into his pockets.
After so long spent cooped up indoors, there was nothing Nita wanted more. But – “Are you sure?” she said, cocking an eyebrow at him. She’d known him long enough to know when his ‘casual’ was anything but.
He paused, and she could just see the cogs turning in his brain as he looked for an excuse. She smirked at him.
“Oh, shut up, Neets," he said, but the corners of his lips were twitching upwards. "I guess - if something were going down on campus, either you or Nguyet would’ve noticed it by now, so whatever the Powers want us to look in on is probably either here or –“
“-- in the city,” Nita finished with him. “That's not a bad point, actually.” She ran a hand through her hair, an absent gesture, then grimaced as the wool of her gloves caught on her hair, raising a staticky feeling along her scalp. When she drew her hand away, her hair rose minutely to follow, and the cold air slipped in close to her skin.
Kit snickered. “Nice bedhead, Neets.”
“Because you looked so much better when you arrived earlier.”
He reached out, and for the first time she realized his hands were bare. He ran his fingers through her hair, drawing out the static and settling it down.
“How about,” he said, bringing his hands to his mouth to blow on them briefly before tucking them back into the pockets of her coat, “we stay out here for another few hours – just in case – then we head into the city.” He gave her a hopeful grin. “We can grab dinner, maybe.”
She wanted to tease him a little more – she was having flashbacks to the first time, when he blushed and scratched at his nose awkwardly, then said, so, uh. Do you maybe want to get something to eat, maybe? like they hadn't already gone over the whole 'boyfriend' thing after the Aurilelde fiasco, like there was still a chance she might say no – but the wind whipped by them then, and Kit shivered, ducking his head a little further into the collar of her coat. “Are you sure you don’t want to head back now?” she said, frowning. “We could grab you some gloves and a hat from my dorm on the way.”
She determinedly didn’t look back at the meadow behind her. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by life – by non-human life – but it was also ridiculously cold out.
He grinned wryly at her. “Nah, I’m good. My dad would never let me live it down if a little California winter managed to defeat ‘his son, the brujo.’”
Nita couldn’t help the giddy smile that broke out over her face at that. So maybe it wasn’t ideal, missing a whole day of studying in service of errantry, but at least she got this. She turned to face the meadow – low-lying vegetation in greens and yellows and deep reds, with thin saplings here and there, beaten down by the winds but still standing.
“Well, what are we waiting for, then?” And she led Kit off down the path again. After a moment, though, she tugged at his elbow at her side until he took his hand out of his pocket, and she wrapped it in her own.
They didn’t get back to campus until the sun was setting, casting long shadows as it faded behind the tall concrete buildings. No problems had arisen on the rest of the walk; the only direct contact they’d had that wasn’t with each other was a rather disgruntled squirrel, who’d buried her nuts underground for storage, not suspecting that the temperature would drop sufficiently to freeze the soil. A few light kicks of Nita’s heel had broken through the frozen surface layer of the forest floor, though, and they’d continued on their way. Not exactly work that warranted active status. (Kit suggested that perhaps it was Ponch’s facet of the One that had sent them to rescue the poor squirrel – they were, after all, His favourite playmates – but he was snickering as he said it.)
After a quick stop for a hat and gloves for Kit, they headed into the city. They wandered briefly, not talking much outside their heads, keeping their senses clear and focused on the rhythm of the city. The day was almost over, and it would definitely be best for both of them if whatever it was they were here for could be dealt with that night. Nita did not want to try to explain to her professor that she missed her final exam because a higher Power had demanded it.
They managed until they reached Nita’s favourite second-hand book store, at which point they obviously had to duck in and waste half an hour among the shelves.
After, when they emerged with a bag of books each and that warm glow in their hearts that the promise of future reading brings, it was hard to maintain any kind of wizardly professionalism. The sun had set, and the red and white Christmas lights wound around and between the streetlights had been turned on. The sidewalk was crowded but not cramped, and, holding hands, they wove between strangers, chatting idly about her projects and his classwork and vice versa, mist forming in the air in front of them with every word.
“You know,” Kit said as they waited for a green light at some anonymous intersection; they didn’t much care where they were going. Where the Powers needed them, eventually they’d be found. “I thought, you’ve seen one city, you’ve seen them all. But this place is really pretty.”
She grinned at him, so wide her frozen cheeks hurt. “It is, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he said, catching her gaze and holding it with an answering smile. He squeezed her hand in his. You look happy here, Neets.
The light changed, then, and the crowd swept them forward. Nita finally recognized where they were as a familiar neon sign caught her eye. She tugged Kit’s hand and began to weave her way through the crowd towards it.
Inside, the heat was on full blast, and a light garlic smell filled the air. She tugged off her gloves and tucked them in her pocket before taking Kit’s hand in hers again. Both their fingers were kind of sweaty and gross from the gloves, but they’d both been sweatier and grosser in their time.
“This place has the best, cheapest veggie lasagna I’ve ever had in my life,” she said, pulling him over to a booth.
Once they were seated with menus, she took a moment to watch him through her bangs. The fluorescent lighting was less kind than the scattered sunlight of their afternoon, but every inch of Kit's face was familiar and dear to her even so. He scanned his menu with the same pinched, focused look he got whenever he had to make a choice, whether it was whether or not he was going to forgive Carmela for getting hairspray all over his manual or choosing which spell to throw at the Power that invented Death.
I am happy, she thought. It wasn’t necessarily intended to be heard, but she didn’t try to block it away from him either. It was simply a statement of fact. I’m happy here. And I’m happy with you.
He looked up from his menu to meet her eyes, and his face broke into a smile.
They ate, not taking their time but not rushing either. Kit had what felt like hundreds of questions about Santa Cruz; he’d been by to visit her a few times, but they’d – well. They’d stayed inside most of those days. Talking, and not talking. He hadn’t really had a chance to see the campus and the city, and now that he was here Nita got to watch the way his face lit up with curiosity with each new thing he learned about it, the eager way he listened as she described her classes. A quiet hope settled in her gut, but she carefully pushed it aside. He hadn’t pressured her to stay at home, when she’d been considering her options; she certainly wasn’t going to pressure him now that she was in his position.
When they were done and had paid, they set out into the streets again. The sidewalk was emptier now, as the hour had grown late and the temperature had dropped even more. Before, the Moon and some of the stars had been visible, but a cloud cover had crept in while they ate, obscuring the skies.
“We should head back,” Kit said reluctantly, glancing at his watch. “What time’s your exam at?”
“Noon. Yeah, I should sleep.” She grinned suddenly. “And so should you, Mr. Twenty-Three-Hours-Straight. And you’re in the wrong time zone – you must be dead on your feet.”
He shrugged. “Someone gave me an energy booster. I could probably stay up all night again.”
A moment later, Nita yawned, and then laughed when he echoed it helplessly. “Yeah, sure,” she said.
Hand in hand, they turned for home. On the walk back, Nita tried to at least pretend she was still attentive to the possibility of wizardly aid being sought somewhere in the city, but it was half-hearted at best. She was pleasantly full of good food, and pleasantly warmed by good company. Every few blocks she cast out her senses, seeking disturbance or tension, but that was all, and she found nothing as it was.
They arrived back at her dorms at around half past midnight. The lights were out when she opened her door, and quiet snoring resonated from Nguyet’s side of the room. Nita tugged Kit over to her bed, shedding layers as they went.
Finally, finally, in a ratty old sweatshirt and a pair of flannel boxers she was pretty sure were actually Dairine’s, she ducked under the covers, shivering slightly. Kit, after an awkward glance to the opposite side of the room, followed suit.
She won’t care, Nita said, pinching him in the side.
No, but she’ll laugh her ass off, he replied. Your roommate has a hyena laugh, Neets.
She muffled a snort with the back of her hand. The snort turned into a yawn; her eyelids were getting irresistibly heavy as her breathing began to slow. She curled into Kit’s warmth, wrapping an arm around his waist and winding her fingers in the soft cotton of his t-shirt.
You set an alarm? he asked. His mental voice sounded as sleepy as she felt.
Yep. She brushed a kiss across his temple. Night, Kit.
She didn’t hear his reply; she was already asleep.
The next morning, she started awake to a whoop of joy. Instinctively, she tightened her grip on Kit – which was lucky, because he’d flailed awake in a similar manner, nearly falling off her bed. Nita blinked blearily into the bright white light filling the room.
“What’d I tell you?” Nguyet cheered, her arms flung wide as she stood before their tiny window. “Snow day, cousins!”
Sure enough, thick flakes were drifting past the window pane, and further off Nita could see the quad covered in what looked to be at least a foot of snow.
Kit shook his head, and glanced between her and Nguyet with the dazed expression of the just-awake. “No exam?”
Nita began to grin, filled with sheer delight. “No exam,” she said, and she smacked a gross, morning breath-suffused kiss right on his mouth.
Nguyet laughed. “She’s got the right idea,” she said. She tugged her coat on over her pyjamas. “I’m off for girlfriend time. You kids have fun, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, etcetera.”
Kit was blushing scarlet, and Nita was pretty sure she wasn’t any better. Worse, probably, with her pale complexion. Nguyet almost tipped over as she pulled on her boots, snickering at them. At the door, however, she paused, and said, You look better, Neets. You were looking pretty stressed for a few days there.
Nita took a break from blushing to frown and meet Nguyet’s eyes. You don’t think...
Did you find anything out there that needed fixing?
Nita shook her head.
Well then.
“You’re too smart for such an annoying person,” Nita grumbled aloud.
Nguyet stuck out her tongue. “You love me,” she said, and with a jaunty wave she was gone.
“It’s weird not being the only person in your head,” came Kit’s voice from under Nita’s pillow.
She poked him in the side. “Guess you’d better visit more often, then. So I don’t forget what it’s like to have my real partner around.”
He shoved the pillow out of his face, and looked up at her with soft eyes under his rumpled disarray of bedhead. “Guess so.”
The curtains had fallen mostly shut again, so the room was dimly lit but for a thin, stubborn streak of natural light that wavered almost imperceptibly as the snow passing by obscured it. Nita was warm, and happy, and she thought twelve syllables in the Speech to dispel both hers and Kit’s morning breath before leaning in to kiss him properly.
“So,” Kit panted a minute later, colour high in his cheeks and a wholly different dazed look affixed to his face. “You should probably study, huh.”
Nita snorted. "I'm pretty sure the Powers put me on active status and dragged you all the way out here to make us go on a date. Seems to me like they want me to know there are more important things than studying.”
“Nita Callahan: rebel academic,” Kit said, that wonderful twinkle lighting his eyes.
“Nope -- I’m still too much of a wimp to be a rebel,” she said. “And I’ll study later. But for now – “ she curled a hand around his bicep and drew him up and over her. “—I have other things on my mind.”
“Nothing worse for studying than divided focus,” he said, nodding seriously, and then he tipped her chin up and kissed her.