When Theora activated her ability, Dema disappeared in a zap, with a yelp. The skunk was gone too.

Staring at her hand, the leftover warmth of Dema’s touch still lingering, Theora could not believe what she’d just done. Retaining a person she’d just met?

She still had to get both these precious cuties out of the well as fast as possible, so she climbed back up with sweaty hands across wet, mossy cobble, face was red with heat.

This wasn’t even an emergency. She’d done it because Dema looked like a girl from a dream she barely remembered.

The climb required some acrobatic ability she wasn’t used to force out of her body. A damaged brick provided safe footing right beneath the end of the well, so with hands freed, she used Retain again.

Dema was still finishing her yelp as she and the skunk reappeared in Theora’s arms. With a quick jump, she got them all out, hiding her usage of Retain from potential onlookers.

Dema was holding on tight, and the skunk was holding on tight to Dema’s scarf, and they were both stunned for a moment. Theora looked around — she wanted to get them somewhere dry, but the abandoned building was too dangerous to enter. The girl that had called her over had gone to sit and wait beyond the fence of the property under a bus stop — but Theora kind of wanted to spend time with Dema alone, maybe?

Before she could decide, Dema said, “Wait, I keep getting carried away!” and jumped out of Theora’s arms to sit down on the remains of a brick wall they had been about to pass. These must have once belonged to a shed or something once. It was still under the foliage of the oak, so at least shielded from direct rain.

Dema shook off some drops from her tattered coat while keeping the skunk in her lap, patting it dry. She smiled at it, then at Theora but her eyes widened in awe as they went up. “Why, you are a bunny. Didn’t know they had a new uniform at the brigade.”

Theora made a clumsy step back. “It’s not a new uniform. I was visiting a halloween party when the call came in.”

Dema nodded. “Lucky me. Anyway, what was I talking about? Ah, right, getting carried away. I was gonna find the source of that glow and then…” She frowned, her faintly shining eyes glued to Theora’s face, and then scratched her head. “Wait, have we met?”

“I don’t think so.” Did dreams count? Either way, Theora imagined ‘I dreamt of you’ wasn’t among the best pick-up lines, and she really did not want to mess this up in hopes of getting to pick Dema up again. “I’m Theora. I’m sorry — I didn’t even ask you if you wanted me to… If you wanted to…”

“Go gone? I assume?”

“Yes.”

Dema shrugged. “It’s fine. You’ve got warm hands, I don’t mind.” She let the skunk to the ground. It sniffed around curiously, and then ran off. “Li’l rascal must have slipped while trying to steal some bee honey, huh.”

“It’s surprisingly well-behaved. I assumed we would have gotten sprayed by now.”

Dema smiled and stretched. “Well yea. I got a hand for critters. Plus I imagine it might have suffered too, nagging us in that narrow space…”

Theora let out a breath. “S-So, what did you mean, ‘find the source of the glow’?”

“Ah! Right.” Dema held out her hand with the same bracelet Theora was wearing — both still beaming. “Was heading home and then I noticed that? Got stronger when I moved, so I followed it, but then heard the poor skunk and got a bit distracted.”

Theora looked over Dema’s body; she was wet, but didn’t seem to shiver.

Protocol had demands. Protocol demanded that an ambulance be called if someone was in danger. “Are you feeling alright?” Theora checked for signs of concussion. “Headache? Dizzy? Confused? Or are you feeling cold?”

Dema gave a look. “Am plenty warm right now. How did you do that, anyway?”

Theora was following protocol. And yet, her heart was beating quite fast, because what if she was being negligent with the protocol because she wanted to spend more time with Dema…?

Dema, who was just sitting there, looking up with a curious look and a faint uptwirl of corners of her lips. She didn’t seem in a rush to leave either, which gave Theora more confidence than she should have been having. She allowed parts of the tension for flow from her muscles, and her breathing to calm. “Do what?”

Dema lifted her arms as if it was obvious. It was; but Theora wasn’t going to make this easy. It’s not something she wanted to talk about, ever. Performing miracles akin to magic was something to be done in private. Something not to be talked about. Especially not with total strangers. Although Dema did not feel like a total stranger.

She’d actually met her.

Well, or rather, it seemed like she’d met her. Theora was aware of how dreams functioned; it was possible that she’d seen Dema on the streets before and forgotten, or that she’d retroactively filled Dema’s face into her dreams after actually seeing her in the well. Dreams did not predict the future, they extrapolated from random signals in the brain; it was something Theora knew for sure, probably from having seen it in a documentary she’d watched with Serim.

“I mean, you don’t have to answer,” Dema finally said. “Just curious. Anyway — Theora —” Theora jolted, eyes shooting up to Dema’s. “—wanna sit down too? You seem kinda tired. We could rest for a while.”Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

‘Theora.’ This was the first time Dema called her that.

Except that thought made no sense. Of course it was.

Exhausted, Theora sat down. She really was tired, obviously. And while ‘resting for a while’ sounded nice, protocol demanded she go back to the station to file her report. And the fact that she’d already handled this in a very unorthodox manner meant she shouldn’t be stretching the goodwill she’d accumulated with the others.

“Sorry. Whatever happened, could we… not talk about it? We are in reality after all, where only real things should happen.”

Dema shrugged. “Sure. So, what do you do all day? Other than, like, being a hero.”

Theora jerked her face away to stare into the dark foliage. “I’m the caretaker of the local cemeteries. I also volunteer for the fire brigade.”

She expected some kind of teasing response and thus kept staring into the night, but a few seconds passed, and Dema didn’t say anything. When Theora looked back, she found Dema studying her with an unusually placid expression.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Dema shook her head slowly. “No, just thinking. Be an honour to get buried by you one day.”

Somehow, Dema saying it felt like a stab through the heart.

“Hey!” the girl in the green dress called over, “Everything alright?”

Thus, they’d run out of time — Theora couldn’t put off her obligations any longer.

She called in to report what had happened. A girl had heard the distressed calls of a skunk ring through the street for an hour before calling the brigade, and Theora had successfully extracted it.

Dema kept watching from afar as Theora walked around with her phone to finish up. But as it came time to go back to the brigade, Theora’s legs refused to carry her to her bike. She wanted to talk to Dema more.

And then Dema caught Theora staring, and broke into a wide smile.

Gosh.

Perhaps it was time to run away after all.

Her legs still didn’t move, though.

Everyone else had left the streets; it was dark and late. Theora pretended to be occupied on her phone; it was embarrassing to just stand around with nothing to do, just in hopes that the woman she’d known for half an hour might chat her up.

Dema even lived nearby. She could just go home, and they’d never see each other again. If only that poor skunk had sprayed them… Then they might have had something to talk about—

Alright, that was definitely too much.

Theora took a deep breath and put her phone away, then turned to leave. Someone was staying in late at the headquarters because they were waiting for her.

She’d let her chances slip.

“Hey!” Dema shouted. “Done sorting things out? I wanted to ask you something.”

Theora’s chest got very light, very suddenly. She braced herself, and returned to Dema. Her feet felt a little lighter too, now. She came to a halt very close to Dema’s stretched-out bare feet.

“I—Yes?” Theora’s voice came unintentionally squeaky. “What did you want to ask?”

Dema’s smile waned into a thoughtful frown. She rubbed her chin. “Hold on. Gotta think of something.”

This was a big relief. Apparently this woman was a lot better at being totally incompetent than Theora. She at least got them somewhere.

Before Dema could say anything, Theora’s phone went off with a message angrily asking her to come to the station to finish documentation. With a pained and apologetic look, she showed the message.

Dema pouted as Theora turned to run away.

“Hey!” Dema shouted a few moments later. “My question: mind if we see each other again?”

Theora’s heart skipped a beat. She shook her head — of course she didn’t mind at all.

Theora didn’t bother trying to make it back to the party once everything was done; it was likely still in full swing, but her head was overloaded. As soon as she got home, she crash-landed on her bed. She whipped out her phone, swiped past a few more messages from Unknown, and typed a message for Serim.

“You will not guess what just happened. I’m home now, by the way, can’t make it back to the party.”

Despite the fact that Serim should have been busy, a reply came just a minute later. “Everything alright?”

“Oh, yes.” Theora took a deep breath. It had been a long time since she’d felt so excited. “It’s just… I met someone.”

“You met someone.” Theora could feel the suspicion seep from the message.

“She’s cute,” Theora wrote.

“She’s cute. Where is Theora and what have you done to her?”

Theora put the phone on her chest, chuckling at the ceiling. That’s right, she wasn’t quite being herself. Or, maybe she was, but it was not a side of herself she was letting out a lot. She bit her lip to suppress a grin, and found her phone ringing. Serim was calling her. Theora answered.

“Details,” Serim demanded.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Theora shrugged into her pillow. “I was called for an animal rescue. Someone else had already attempted to save the little skunk and gotten herself stuck in the process. I went down the well, and retained them both to get them out.”

“You retained someone you just met?”

“I would have done a lot more if I didn’t have to get going,” Theora admitted. “Her hands were so soft. I might have asked to hold them. Eventually. Like after a few hours of staring.”

Serim let out a long ‘pfft’ sound.

“It’s just,” Theora continued, “I missed her so bad? Plus, it was necessary, like… They were stuck. It was raining. The skunk might have become angry with us. Right?”

“You missed her? How?”

Theora sighed. “I can’t really explain it.”

“You haven’t been using im//possibility, have you?”

“No,” Theora said, firmly. “This must be something else.”

Slowly, she could feel the rush of excitement leaving her body. Talking would become difficult again soon. Serim remained silent for a while.

A breeze came in from the tilted window, shifting the curtains. Theora’s room was cold. The sweat on her legs and forehead was biting into her. She rubbed her toes against each other, and noticed how her bed was empty.

“I want to meet her again,” she whispered. “I think she — maybe she was flirting with me. I don’t know. She was staring — a bit. At my… costume. She said my hands were… warm.”

But perhaps that’s just how Dema made friends?

Serim laughed. “Well, do you have her name? Her number? Know where she lives?”

“First name only.” And Theora certainly wouldn’t start ringing random doors until she found Dema. “I don’t think I can contact her.”

“Well, that’s a bummer.” Serim let out a hum. “I mean, if she lives in town, you might run into each other again. Here’s to hope?”

Theora gave a sad sigh. “Maybe.” Her voice was a bit laden. She was very sleepy now. “Thank you. I’ll get ready for bed.”

“Sleep well. And don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”