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The sun is setting now, its red beams snaking between the Ursans’s boardwalks and wooden houses and bathing Azu and Kiko in golden light, their shadows holding hands and stretching out beside them as they walk. The image is impossibly beautiful, catching Azu’s breath every time she goes to wipe away the tears of laughter in her eyes.
“Okay! Okay, okay,” Azu says between giggles. “My turn. Truth or dare?”
“Truth!”
“Who is…” Azu says, suddenly realizing she hasn’t prepared a question. “What is the best date you’ve ever been on... while riding on a giant bear?”
Kiko snorts with laughter, squeezing Azu’s hand. “Oh, I don’t know,” she says coyly, “I’ve been on so many dates with beautiful girls who just happened to be on giant bears. Gotta say, though, this one ranks pretty high.”
Her tone is playful but Azu can’t help grinning like an idiot at her answer, trying to figure out a suave reply.
“My turn! Dare!” Kiko says, interrupting Azu’s thoughts. “Kiss me.”
They’ve kissed many times today, but when Azu turns, holds Kiko’s cheek in one hand, and kisses her, it’s like the first time. Her heart flutters in her chest and all she can think about are Kiko’s soft lips, Kiko’s callused hand in hers, and Kiko’s other hand on the back of her head, pulling Azu in closer. Azu doesn’t object, weaving her fingers into Kiko’s short, handsome hair and feeling her smile through the kiss as she —
“Oi, Kiko!” A familiar voice breaks through the quiet of the street and Azu retreats quickly, turning to see Friedrich only a few buildings down, learning out a doorway. She realizes with a start and a drop to her heart that she and Kiko have wandered their way back to the bunkhouse.
“You free for cards, Kiko?” Friedrich continues, grinning conspiratorially. “Siggif and Carter want to play Bridge but Zolf’s napping and Barnes is busy with Cel or something.”
Kiko looks back at Azu with her eyebrows raised, as if asking her permission.
“I should sleep, too,” Azu says quietly, squeezing her hand, “go play your cards.”
Kiko smiles and suddenly she’s pulling Azu down again, kissing her — not so long this time, but with a small nip at Azu’s lower lip that makes her gasp in surprise. Kiko breaks away, walking smugly to where Friedrich still waits at the doorway. She turns back, winks, and steps inside.
For a moment, Azu stands in stunned silence, still feeling the echoes of Kiko’s kiss on her lips. Just as she starts making to follow Kiko inside, the door bursts open once again and Hamid comes out at a full run, a bright smile on his face.
“Azu!” he shouts and bounds towards her, “I saw Kiko come in and I thought — oh my gods, how did it go?”
“It was — it was amazing,” Azu says. Almost on instinct, she picks him up, pulling him into a hug, his tiny body feeling like home in her arms. He hugs back and when he breaks away, she doesn’t put him down, carrying him back towards the bunkhouse door.
“Oh Azu, that’s fantastic!” Hamid says, nearly vibrating with an excitement she’s rarely seen in him when sober. “What did you get up to? I didn’t think you’d be gone all day — not that that’s bad — I’m so happy it was a long date!”
“Oh, you know,” Azu says, trying to sound casual but unable to suppress her own grin, “good date things.”
She pushes open the door, warm air and the smell of good food filling her lungs. In one corner, Kiko’s already sitting down to her card game, and gives Azu a small wave. The kobolds are talking quietly by the fire, a sewing project in a chair next to them that Azu assumes is Hamid’s. Earhart sits at the table, pouring over her manifest and pointedly ignoring Cel sat next to them, joking with a beet-red Barnes. Azu spots Wilde by Zolf’s bunk, a book in one hand and Zolf’s hand in the other as his partner sleeps.
“We played chess in a garden,” Azu continues as she makes her way to her own bunk, seeing Hamid squirm to know more details. “We went to the local market. We did some cloud watching — oh, Hamid, you should take a look at the weather patterns here, they’re very interesting! And we, heh, we taught some people how to play marbles? Can you believe they’d never heard of them? And we walked around and — oh!”
Azu deposits Hamid on her bed and quickly sits beside him, leaning in close and whispering. “I asked if she would be my girlfriend and she said yes!”
“Omigodsazu! Girlfriends!” Hamid says, his voice rising and his words all slurring together as he springs forward for another hug. The word spins around in Azu’s brain while she hugs him back — she’s got a girlfriend, she’s Kiko’s girlfriend, they’re girlfriends together, the two of them.
Her smile falters when she hears Hamid sniffling beside her. “Hamid?” she says anxiously — but when he pulls back, he’s still smiling, his eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Hamid says, dabbing at his eyes with his pocket handkerchief. “I’m just — I’m so happy for you. I’m so happy.”
“Oh, Hamid,” Azu says. His tears are infectious, and she can already feel her eyes stinging as she pulls him back into the hug. “So am I.”