Having Sapphire tag along with my daily routine was oddly enjoyable. I always did it in relative silence with only my thoughts to accompany me and even they were quiet most of the time. I preferred it that way still, but she proved to be better company than I had anticipated. She chatted often, but it was rarely pointless. She seemed to have more awareness in conversations than most adults. 

I answered any questions she had the best I could. I wasn’t an expert by any means when it came to fitness and technology, so there were quite a few questions I couldn’t give a satisfactory answer for. The depth of some of the questions she had surprised me, though. They required a level of critical thinking that few children, if any, possessed, albeit, those questions were delivered in a childlike manner. 

Regardless, the idle chatter we had passed the time wonderfully. The hours flew by faster than I had anticipated and it came time for me to join with Kristin for our outing. I perused my closet in search of any suitable clothes, but almost every article of clothing in it was the same.  Either gray or black and an exciting mix of sweatpants and joggers for pants and sweatshirts and t-shirts for upper body clothing. 

‘Maybe Kris was onto something,’ I thought as I stared at the closet. It was so monochrome, it might have been a silent film. 

I frowned as I dug through my memory, trying to see if I could find the remnants of a time where I had slightly more colorful clothing like a navy blue. I was never one to go out clubbing or dating even as a teenager—partly because I had few friends and partly because I didn’t see the point. The two probably fed into each other.

A faint image of an outfit flitted about in the outskirts of my mind as I struggled to find a time recently where I wore anything that was even a touch different from my usual attire. I squashed that memory though as it came into focus. I needed fancier clothes, but not that. Not now.

I bent down and began moving a few boxes from the bottom of my closet as I looked for some hidden treasures. At last I found something different: a pair of jeans that must have been lying at the bottom of this closet for years. Jeans and a t-shirt. The bare minimum for an outfit that could be classified as going for an outing.

I slipped it one and looked down, my legs feeling a bit constrained. The pants were meant to be form fitting, but I could still feel some room as I wiggled my legs. 

‘Hmm. Muscle tone went down over the years I guess.’ 

That was to be expected when your diet was the bare minimum of protein a day. And your body wasn’t modified so that you were always built like an athlete. Working for your form wasn’t something a lot of people even fathom considering. 

“How do I look?” I asked, directing my question to Sapphire. She looked up from the tiny piece of machinery that she was so intently observing and tilted her head. “These clothes. Looks good enough?”

I wasn’t even certain why I was asking Sapphire. There was no way her input would be helpful with such things with her memory. 

“Um. Good?” she said, the end of her sentence going up in pitch.

“Thank you.” The ends of my lips twitched up. I closed the closet and gave Sapphire a meaningful look. “I’m going to head out. Remember the drill?”

“Yes,” she nodded, her eyes wandering back to the trinket in her hands. 

“I’ll be back in a few hours most likely. Can’t promise I’ll be alone.”

“You’re bringing guests?”

“If I do, it won’t be because I want to,” I sighed. “See you soon.”

Sapphire gave me a little wave as I shut the door behind me. The early evening air was heavy with that familiar smell of chemicals and pollution. A soft breeze brushed against my cheeks as I spent a minute or two observing the area around my apartment. I spied a few people here and there, hurrying along like worker ants and paying no mind to the others around them. When I was satisfied, I went down an alleyway and began the long trek to the Plaza. Taking public transport wasn’t the best idea when there’s people who are chasing after you. 

It took me a good forty minutes of walking to reach Quadrant 4. It could have been shorter, but I elected to take a more roundabout route to throw off any would be pursuers. Pursuers were like bugs: if you don’t see them that probably means there’s a few there, and if you do see them, that means you missed many more. Even now, there were probably at least one or two trying to find me. It was a good thing I was going to the Plaza though. This day of the week, there’s usually hundreds of people milling about there to shop, talk, or do various illegal activities. 

When I arrived, I realized that Kristin didn’t specify where in the Plaza she wanted to meet. After a quick scan of the area around me for her familiar figure, I gave her a call.

“You’re already there?” she asked, picking up on the second ring. 

“Yes. I take it you’re not then. How long?”

“Ten minutes. You’re there pretty early. You must be so excited then,” she teased.

“Mhm. Yep. Definitely. What do you want me to do while I wait? I can sit near the bus stop and wait for you there.”

“No, that would be boring. Have a look around, relax, and find things you like. We’re here for fun, girl. We’re not here to do a heist.”

“You know my definition of fun is pretty different from yours, but alright. I’ll look around for a bit. Maybe I’ll find some Sunbreakers roaming about trying to find me along the way.”

“That’s the spirit! I’ll see you soon.”

She hung up the call as I sighed. Taking another look around, I decided to make good on my word and began to wander about the Plaza. It had changed a bit since I last gave the place a good look. I only go to the restaurants that border the main Plaza most days. The markets were in the same area. However, as I strolled around I noticed new buildings in places where there used to be none, old establishments that had disappeared, as well as many more cameras. The overall layout of the area seemed to be the same, more or less. Same streets. Same signs. Same lights.

I went to a few clothing stores to spy on the window sales, but nothing stood out to me. Fashion was always evolving, but I could never keep up. My tastes always stayed the same and as the times went, it got harder and harder to find those tastes. That might be one of the reasons I just stopped caring for the most part.

When Kristin caught up with me, I was mulling around the bus stop. I gave her a small wave as she casted a critical look on my attire, making a small circle around me as she furrowed her brows.

“Better than nothing,” she shrugged at last. “Honestly, I didn’t know you had anything other than sweatpants nowadays.”

“I didn’t know either,” I replied dryly. “Come on. Let’s grab a bite to eat first, then you can start dragging me around.”

“Hmm. Alright. But I’m going to do something about your clothes once and for all.”

“That sounds oddly like a threat.”

“It might be,” she grinned. “It all depends on how well you comply.”

“That was definitely a threat.”

---

 

“So tell me. About this girl.”

Kristin looked at me with eyes that told me she was in business mode now. I shifted a few large bags from my lap and leaned against the wall of the building we were sitting in front of. My feet were a bit sore from all of the walking we did. It was nearly eleven and we spent most of that time walking from shop to shop.

I quickly realised that my role in this trip was more of a dress up doll rather than companionship. Kristin had me wear nearly every outfit she could get her hands on. At least, that was how it felt, and she did it all with a gleam in her eyes. In the end, I caved and allowed her to buy one outfit for me. Thankfully, she knew what my tastes were which only told me that she had some ulterior motives when she made me dress up in a pink miniskirt.

I still had some reservations letting her buy me things. This was supposed to be repayment for her aid, but here she was using her credits in order to buy me clothing that I might not even wear. At least I managed to convince her to split the price of the meal.

“What exactly do you want to know? I think I told you a lot already,” I said. 

“A lot about the situation, yeah, but not about the girl. I want to know about her. Sapphire is her name, right?”

“It is.” I sat back and fidgeted with the bags on my lap. “There’s not much to say. She’s like a child. She talks in simple sentences and doesn’t know some really basic things.”

“Like what?”

“Lakes.”

“She doesn’t know what lakes are?” Kristin said, her voice rising in pitch.

I nodded, my eyes following the people who passed by. The ambient sound of chatter and laughter calmed me. As often as I observed people, I realised that I never truly saw them. I never saw how much had changed. New slang, new trends, new faces. It wasn’t quite the same Plaza I have always known.

“What’s wrong?” Kristin’s voice asked.

“Nothing,” I replied. I broke my gaze from the crowds and focused on Kris. “Sapphire, right? She has an odd form of memory loss from my observations. It’s like a certain period of her life was just erased somehow. She’s probably in her early twenties to late teens now in terms of physical age, but mentally around six to seven.”

“And how sure are you of this?” There was a hint of suspicion in her voice. 

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I’m just saying that it’s a mighty coincidence that after years of staying out of trouble, you have a run in with the Sunbreakers. You know, the one gang with the closest ties to the police.”

 “Yep. I know what you’re trying to say,” I sighed. “Problem is, I don’t think there’s any way she’s working for the police or whatever gang that’s the flavor of the month. She would have to be a phenomenal actress. Plus, she has augments.”

“And? Everyone and their mother has augments here,” Kristin laughed.

“Not the type of augments this girl has,” I said with a shake of my head. “They’re too advanced to come from any augment shop out here. She has almost no exposed parts. And, I think she has mods. Or at least, augments as good as mods.”

“So she’s from the City?” Kris frowned. “But what is she doing here then? She can’t be a stray if her mods are what you say.”

“Now you see my problem. She said she came from beyond the outer districts based on where she pointed when I asked her. Said she woke up next to a lake.”

“That narrows it down to about a crap ton of land.”

“And it doesn’t even help me figure out why a girl from the City wasn’t just outside of the City but stranded in the Outskirts.”

“I can see why you doubt she’s a plant,” Kristin nodded. “That seems overly convoluted for a backstory.”

“It is. Add that to the fact that if she was a plant trying to get me captured or killed, its been a few days and all that’s transpired is that I ran into the Sunbreakers due to me going to the Archive.”

“And that would need people to know about me and that I know people.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, you’ve convinced me,” Kris grinned, stretching her arms. “You must just have really bad luck then.”

“I’ve come to realise that a long time ago.”

“So, then. What’s the plan?” 

Kristin’s tone shifted, her words dead serious now. It was a voice she rarely used. The last time I heard it, it was during a, quite literally, ground breaking situation. I stared at the quickly darkening evening sky. Stars were beginning to twinkle behind the haze like little beacons. As I pondered my next moves, I drew lines between the stars as I connected the sparse pieces of information I had. 

“I really don’t know,” I shrugged. “There’s just...too little, honestly. I’m still holding onto hope that she isn’t from the City or at least has some family in the OD, but as you could probably tell, I’m just lying to myself.”

“There’s always that one option. The one that would just wipe this completely from your plate, you know?” Kristin said, her voice soft. 

“Not from my mind.”

“Maybe, but your life is more important.”

“You know how I am about promises.”

“I do. Doesn’t mean I can’t try to convince you. We’ve all done worse. Just let her go, and then deal with the Sunbreakers. This entire situation is like the opposite of what you’ve been trying to get. Plus, if this girl is as you said, I’m not sure there even is anything you could do for her other than adopting her.”

As I sighed, my lips curled up into a wry smile. She was right. I knew she was right. I, myself, had thought of that same solution before. Just abandon Sapphire and be done with it. I could lie to myself and say that I did everything I could, then go back to my normal life. My normal life that I had worked so hard to achieve. 

“I can’t, Kris,” I said with a small shake of my head. “This is different. The entire situation is different.”

“Why? What about this one is it that makes her different from all the other girls we’ve seen?”

“I’m the one that reached out to her. I kinda did this to myself. I invited this trouble. It’s only right that I should be the one to fix it.”

“Right? That’s not a word you hear often,” Kristin snickered. “You know just as well as I do that doing something because it’s right isn’t the most healthy idea.”

I shrugged. 

“Why did you even get involved in the first place? That doesn’t seem like the Fae I know.”

“I’m not really sure. If I had to really point a finger, I think it’s because of her innocence. Someone her age with that kinda simpleness is just intriguing, I would say.”

“You sure it’s not because she’s hot?”

“I thought this was supposed to be a serious conversation,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Besides, she’s basically a young child in every way except physically. I only reached out in the beginning because I felt bad and thought I could maybe guide her toward wherever she came from.”

“You always had a soft spot for children,” Kris nodded. “Well. A less hard spot, anyway. You have to bring that girl to see me sometime soon. All this talk of her has got me curious.”

“If circumstance permits it, I wouldn’t mind. I’m sure she wouldn’t either.”

A particularly biting breeze alerted me of the passing time. I looked up again at the sky and found the stars shining brighter than before. The crowds had lessened somewhat, but the noise grew as the more raucous groups headed toward whatever late night escapade they were expected at. 

“It’s getting late, isn’t it,” Kristin said softly. She touched my arm and gave me a little smile. “Watch yourself. Remember that. If you want to help this girl, make sure it doesn’t come at a cost that’s too much for you to pay. I don’t care if this girl looks like a superstar or some Trisha Vermani. If you need help, you don’t need to do it all by yourself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Kris.”

We got up from the bench and fell silent for a few seconds, before I glanced over at her.

“See you soon,” I said. 

“See you. Oh, and also,” Kris said, snapping her fingers, “the sky is pretty tonight. Heard a red moon might be out.”

With that, she gave me a flirty wave and a wink before sauntering off. I smiled and went the other way, replaying her words in my mind. Red moon, huh? I haven’t heard that in some time.