Work Text:
Immediately Post-Thaw
“Are you saying rebuilding the underground isn’t one of your priorities?” The long-haired, rebellious beauty scowled.
Try as she might, Bronya could not dissuade her newfound ally with appeals to reason.
“Forget it, I’ll go down there and do it myself.”
Bronya Rand wanted to reach out, wanted to stop Seele from leaving. They were already at odds, a fact that would surely bode ill for the future relationship of the topside and underground. And when at long last, Bronya had finally made a friend…
Seele looked out the window, still scowling. Suddenly her eyes went wide as something in the sky got her attention. The scowl of anger disappeared in an instant.
“Ah, Bronya, look!”
It was not a ruse to defuse tension or get the new commander to drop her guard. Indeed, when Bronya turned she saw a great shooting star flying through the sky.
The Trailblazers!
Those who had made this tenuous – now strained – peace possible. They were off to the stars, and would find new worlds and new difficulties and fresh uncertainties awaiting them.
“We have to do… better,” Bronya said after some time. “For them.”
It wouldn’t do to squander the opportunity those visitors from the stars had granted them.
“Right.” Seele nodded. “Everything we have now, it’s all thanks to them. If it all falls apart now, their faith in us is wasted, yeah?”
Seele’s hand drifted temptingly close to Bronya’s, though the latter did not register it as an invitation at that stage. They stared out the window at the departing space train that had given them the opportunity for survival, friendship, and the mutual survival of their two separate cities.
When Seele left the knight’s office, the shooting star had long-since receded out of view. She left Bronya on amicable terms. It was still a cold, inhospitable world out there. And so long as the two societies worked together, pooled their resources, they may be able to claw a bit more of the world away from the glacial hell it had become, both above ground and below.
--
Three Years Post-Thaw
Representatives from both the underground and topside were to meet for the opening of the southside rail-elevator, the fourth major lift between the two cities.
“So, you and Natasha will arrive on the surface in the cart. We will shake hands, celebrate the continued cooperation between the two cities. And…” Bronya lost her train of thought.
“Hug, get all mushy at the continued friendship, maybe say a few words, then head back to town hall for some fancy party?” Seele said, hands behind her head with an effortless nonchalance.
“Right.” Bronya found herself blushing.
Hug, yes, of course. Get all mushy… if only.
The pair met at least once a week, and even more often than that these days. The meeting was being done by candlelight in the commander’s office. Just the two of them…
“Seele,” Bronya said.
The undergrounder raised an eyebrow “Yes?”
“Would you…” Bronya stammered. “To the celebration ball. Afterwards, I mean. Would you, what I mean to say is – would you be willing to. Umm… accompany me, like together. I mean, in a more formal capaci-”
“Do you want to go out with me?” Seele interrupted.
Bronya turned beat-red. “Oh, by the Aeons – yes! But I was so hoping to say it…”
“Heh.” Seele couldn’t hide a blush. “Supreme Guardian Rand, I would be ecstatic to accompany you to the celebration ball in a more formal capacity. As a date.”
“Yes!” Bronya’s smile grew so wide it began to hurt.
Seele sealed it with a wink. “Been waiting for that for, well, forever, now!”
Finally!
All the tension left Bronya’s body. Her companion had been not just willing to entertain her, but enthusiastic about the idea. She’d been working up to ask the raven-haired bombshell for a full year at that point.
They’d grown from rivals to fire-forged allies to close friends. Could they now be something more?
--
Five Years Post-Thaw.
“All those meetings just keep going. I’m so tense,” Seele said. “These fancy suits are so constrictive.”
“Think I can help with both of those.” Bronya grinned, then pushed the lanky undergrounder into the Supreme Guardian’s official bedchambers.
They shared the space more often than not these days. Seele seldom made the sheets, and Bronya shied away from using maid services as they were prone to gossip. It was becoming rather messy – or perhaps lived-in, as Seele liked to call it.
Further evening entertainment was put on hold when the commander’s work desk chimed with an urgent video meeting request.
“Blast.” Bronya turned a light on, positioned her blouse so that it looked mostly presentable from the waist-up, then took a seat. “Goanna have to take this.”
Seele took up a spot behind the video monitor. Grinning wildly, she let out a flurry of quick hand signals: “Want me to crawl under the desk?”
Bronya chuckled. She winked, then provided her own hand signals out of sight of the camera: “Not right now, babe. Could be urgent.”
The video meeting sprung to life. Various representatives from both aboveground and below appeared on the screen.
“Ma’am. It didn’t come up in the meeting, but there are questions about how to split the salvage from the reclaimed districts...”
Bronya sighed, keeping up her diplomatic poker face. If they could remember to address all this in the official meetings, maybe the supreme guardian could actually get some stress relief now and again!
Ten Years Post-Thaw.
The tenth anniversary celebration of the opening of the underground was designed to dwarf all previous ceremonies, holidays, and public commemorations in the history of Belobog. It was warm enough that the party could be held on the main street. But in a show of unity, the supreme guardian ventured downstairs to give her inaugural speech.
“With the completion of these towers, the underground and topside will be, well and truly, united.”
Bronya motioned to the three towers at the north, center, and south ends of their respective cities. From the underground here, they appeared to stretch into the heavens. They continued upward about five floors past the ceiling, leaving a considerable footprint on the topside as well.
“People can now live and work in both worlds. Go for a walk topside and eat brunch in Boulder Town. Work in the mines but live in an uptown manse. No trams required – nothing can separate our two cities ever again.”
There was a modest spackling of applause. There were those who didn’t want the two cities to become well and truly one – some stuck-up topsiders wished to maintain the implied prestige, while a few undergrounders didn’t want to lose the unique culture they’d developed over two decades now. A valid concern, but as supreme guardian, preventing the circumstances that allowed for the underground to be forcibly isolated was her primary concern.
“May these towers ensure our two people remain united for another decade. Just as I have been united with my wife.”
Seele jumped up and down on a nearby railing. “Hey, that’s me! Woo!”
That got some applause from the undergrounders. Even if they didn’t trust Bronya, Seele would always be their hometown hero. And with Bronya’s lovely wife at her side to ensure she never treated the underground unfairly, peace was assured.
Bronya smiled, keeping her hand near her heart, accentuating the wedding band that adorned her finger. Truly, the pair were a living symbol of the peaceful unity these two cities could achieve.
As the speech concluded and Bronya went looking for Mrs. Vollerei-Rand, she couldn’t help but think about those Trailblazers. She hoped to see them again and thank them for everything: Peace, Unity, her marriage. There was a lot that had been accomplished these last ten years.
And it was all thanks to those heroic trailblazers.
--
Seventy Decades Post-Thaw(?)
Dan Heng spent the entire journey setting expectations, explaining again and again how relativity and time dilation in long-distance space travel meant that weeks to them could be years everywhere else.
“I sure hope Jarilo-VI’s gotten warmer since we’ve been gone,” said a certain rose-haired cutie. “Serval, Natasha, and all the others. Can’t wait to see them.”
The Trailblazer merely looked out the window the entire journey, never saying a word. An uneasy feeling in their gut wouldn’t even allow them to sleep.
Not a lot of ice appeared on the optical scanners. The trio wasted no time in going to ground.
“Hardly even recognize the place!” March 7th said. “All these buildings, look like they’re the top of skyscrapers that descend far underground.”
The topside layout was virtually unrecognizable. The Qilopoth Fort was nowhere to be seen. And in place of the Everwinter Monument, there was a rare above-ground building.
“Excuse me,” Dan Heng asked a random passerby. “What is this building?”
“What, the old orphanage?” an incredulous old man asked. “Been here forever. Every orphan on the planet’s lived here for as long as anyone can remember.”
“There used to be a monument here. Where did it go?”
“That old thing? Maybe in my great-grandfather’s time. It’s been moved downstairs. All government services are on the ground floor now. Where else would they be?” The old pedestrian shuffled off, muttering “Damn country bumpkins act like they’ve never seen the big city before!”
In front of the old orphanage were two statues. On closer inspection, it was a joined mausoleum. Chiseled visages of Bronya and Seele, looking middle-aged, were displayed on the statues, fingers intertwined. Below, there was an inscription. Dates of death, within about two weeks of each other, and centuries in the past.
“For the last forty years of their life, the Vollerei-Rand family dedicated their post-retirement life to providing care and shelter for the orphans of Belogog. Their dream was that no orphan on Jarilo-VI would ever be denied open air or a view of the sun. They are survived by twelve loving daughters, ten adopted and two made possible with the incredible science of…” the plaque faded away into unintelligibility.
And below that, chiseled deep into the granite:
“A message for the Trailblazers: Everything we’ve accomplished here is all thanks to you.”
Dan Heng exhaled sharply through his nose. “Relativity. Perhaps if we could have accounted…” then his voice trailed off, as if realizing the futility.
“Didn’t even get to say goodbye,” March said with a pout.
The sky opened with a slight drizzle that stained the statues a damp off-grey.
“It’s… not snow,” March said, the distraction stifling a quiet sob. “It’s warm enough to rain now.”
“That’s what we’d call progress.” Dan Heng said with a fatigued sigh.
The Trailblazer moved a tuft of silver bangs over their eyes as the rain became a downpour.
“Yeah,” they said. “Excellent day for rain.”