Chapter 2: 

“Heddy for the last time I said it's fine.” Lian responded with slight irritation into the phone that was nestled between her ear and shoulder as she folded her laundry. “Things happen and I got home alright. Buy me a drink sometime, and we'll call it even.” 

She nodded as her friend continued talking, absentmindedly making notes for things she had to get done later and wondering how much longer Heddy was going to ramble on for. She wasn’t even really sure that she could call what she had with Heddy friendship at this point, or why she tolerated her. Kitt had lectured her enough times already on boundaries and being careful of Pure women, but Lian couldn’t explain the sense of duty she felt towards maintaining her relationship with Heddy. They had probably once been friends, but lately her take on the whole situation was a sense of obligation. Heddy and her family had done a lot for Lian’s family so in a sense she felt that she owed at least some semblance of respect to her old friend.

“Are you even listening to me anymore?” Heddy’s high-pitched typically sweet sounding voice blared through the phone at her. “You’re always like this Lian, living with your heads in the clouds. You should really focus, you know what they say. Anyway I’ll send you the appointment, make sure that you’re there.”

“Wait! I didn’t agree to anything ye-“ But its too late and Heddy has hung up. Annoyed she throws the phone onto her mattress as she starts putting her laundry away. She swore that this was definitely the last time she was doing anything for that girl.

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As she walks on campus she feels nervous energy running down her spine. It had been just two years since she had given up on her degree, and to be honest she couldn’t help but watch students rushing by in jealousy. Peering at the map on her phone she tried to orient herself on the correct path towards the Science department.

Normally fairly good at directions she found herself overwhelmed by the labyrinth of rooms she had found herself in. She hadn’t expected the University to be so large, the one she had attended previously had been much smaller and newer. Here the buildings were darkened from all the dust, and the smog had settled into the corners in a stubborn resistance that all the scrubbing in the world couldn’t remove. 

Coughing a little to clear her throat she made a reminder to herself to bring her mask next time. 

An hour of wandering later, found her sitting on a bench in an empty corridor, rubbing the soles of her feet and squinting at Heddy's hastily written instructions. She was vaguely starting to feel like her old friend was doing it on purpose and getting a perverse excitement out of messing with her, then again Heddy had never been the cruel kind, just thoughtless at times. 

Rubbing her aching feet she looked up at the sounds of footsteps approaching, determined to ask for help, only to be surprised into stupor. Her finger raised accusatorily, rising into a defensive position, ready to defend herself if necessary, and her eyes narrowed, “What are you doing here!? Are you following me!?”

She remembered the messy curly brown hair that was tied back, and the brown eyes that she had found kind. When he just laughed at her and smiled she became more confused, and in spite of everything found herself relaxing. He shifted back and forth on his feet as if he had too much energy to contain, “I go to school here, I think in this case the question is what are you doing here? Are you a new student? I hadn’t heard of any new researchers joining the program but I may have forgotten. I have a tendency to do that.”

She eyed him up and down as if to confirm his response. When she didn’t show signs of relenting he sighed a little and reached into his pocket to produce a very much battered ID. Nicolas of the Christain family she read, and she nodded at him. “It’s Nico, only my mother insists on calling me by my full name.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Nico.” She responded politely, she had wondered at his place in society before-his features were not the typical to be expected of the Pure but he carried a family name that could be found in The Book of Names. She didn’t know why her politeness caused him to grin broadly at her, arrogant—just like so many of the other Echelon Pure. She ignored her irritation and instead just showed him her hastily scribbled instructions, “I’m looking for Lady Heddy of the Kingsley family, she is a doctoral candidate here and she said her office was in this building?”

“Oh, Heddy? You're in luck, I was just heading in that direction, our labs are next to each other.” He handed her the paper back and started walking. Shuffling up to her feet she jammed her feet back into her shoes and rushed after him. “Hey! Wait up.” 

He paused waiting for her to catch and she fell into step with him secretly wondering if this was all a plan of Heddy's doing, “You know at a certain point these 'coincidences' just seem a little to planned.” 

He rolled his eyes at her, and gave her a blank stare. “I’m more surprised you haven’t noticed yet.” 

“Noticed what?” she responded immediately, wracking her brain for anything out of the norm that she should have noticed. 

He didn’t respond, clearly amused over something while she followed in silence. The hallways were large, the building was old and slightly cavernous as paths seemed to wind in and out of their own making. 

Carefully she noted some markers to find her way back later. Breaking the comfortable silence she glanced over at him, “So how long did it take you to learn how to navigate this maze?” 

“I’d say about a year?” he glanced at her in all seriousness. “But I still get lost finding my way sometimes. I have a pretty bad sense of direction.” 

She laughed at what she thought was a joke until she realized he wasn’t laughing. He couldn’t be serious could he? “We’re not lost….right now are we?” 

“Don’t worry, if we are I can figure it out.” He responded, and yet again she searched his voice for the slight hint he was joking. “Survival skills based on years of necessity. I still get lost on the way home sometimes too.” 

“Oh. That must be rough.” She responded, wincing a little at how stupid she sounded. 

He shrugged and changed the subject, “So do you know why Heddy asked you here?” 

“I’m not sure really, she was being pretty secretive about the whole thing. She told me she’d tell me in person.” 

“That’s been happening a lot around here lately. She must want your help for her Expo submission. What field of research are you in?”

“I'm not. “ she responded, flushing slightly from embarrassment—even though there was nothing to be ashamed about she kept telling herself. “I left school without my degree. I'm not sure what it is Heddy needs me for but we go way back. My mom was her nanny, so we were almost raised together. What about you? What’s your research focus?”

“Energy.” He responded excitedly. “My focus is in researching an alternative way to provide energy to the world. We’re doing what we can right now to try and halt the progression of the pollutants but that’s just a stop gap. Our society can’t function without energy but our world won’t survive if we keep poisoning her, so the only thing left to do?” 

“Create a new energy source.” She finished for him. It was strange, the minute he had started to speak about energy it was as if he had transformed. She saw the nervous way he shifted back and forth and the excited way his hands moved, as if barely able to control his thinly veiled excitement. Still she had spoken to many dreamers before, so a little skeptically she questioned, “Do you really think that it's possible?”

He stopped abruptly and she almost collided into his shoulder. He turned to look at her seriously, and she was suddenly worried she had insulted him. The look in his eyes when they met hers was serious and full of determination, “Of course I do, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to call myself an inventor. Just because something doesn’t exist yet doesn’t mean it isn’t possible, it just means someone hasn’t been able to figure it out yet—and that is what my gift is.” 

She studied his face, and mulled over his words testing them as he met her gaze evenly. She remembered what it had once felt like to believe, and she wanted desperately to believe again. She looked away first, “I-“ 

“There you are Lian!” a pretty, delicate high pitched voice interrupted her thoughts and suddenly she was engulfed by a warm hug. “I was wondering where you were, I was starting to get worried! Thank goodness Nico found you!” 

“Heddy!” By the time her friend had dropped her, Lian had forgotten what she was about to say and the next time she could look at Nico he was simply quietly smiling absentmindedly. It was as if he had fallen back into hibernation now that the conversation had shifted away, for a brief moment she wondered if she had imagined what she had seen earlier. 

“Thanks for finding her Nico, you’re a lifesaver. Are you heading back to the lab?” silently Lian shifted a little behind her friend as Heddy turned to talk to Nico watching as she commanded the situation. As Heddy lead the trio deeper into the halls of the University, Lian took the time to quietly evaluate her childhood friend. 

When they had both been younger they had both been a little rough around the edges, but in that time Heddy had clearly blossomed. She had gotten taller and willowy, moving with practiced elegance and grace. Her dark blonde hair was bundled up in the fashion of the Pure, curled and pinned up. The dove and arrow symbol of her house was pinned into her hair in white ivory against the other white roses that were scattered through her hair. White shoes, alabaster skin and white clothes, privately Lian thought she must have been blinding in the afternoon sun—but it could have also been a little bit of jealousy. The laws of Atlas did not allow Hued women to wear white in such excess. Hued women were content to wear no more then 10%. 

It was a practical rule as well, it was only the Pure that could actually afford the laundry bills in the first place. The inevitable soot that would stain white clothes by the end of the day wasn’t worth the hassle of wearing them. Her eyes slid to Heddy's companion, Nico. He was tall and lanky, and with a quiet laugh she noted just how strange he looked walking next to the perfectly coiffed Heddy. His clothes were best described as lightly rumpled, and absolutely dwarfed him by how oversized they were. His hair was tied back to keep back the mass of unruly curls but overall he gave the impression of someone who wasted little time on how he presented himself to the world. 

Really the only thing that seemed perfectly fitted to him was the white lab coat he was wearing representing the University. She could imagine the harassed University representative that had managed to finally track down his appropriate size. He glanced back just then catching her mid smile, but before she could react he had responded with a broad one before returning his focus to Heddy. 

What a weird person, she thought as Heddy finished up motioning to her to follow. She briefly inclined her head at Nico before following obediently behind her friend, quickly forgetting about him as she wondered if Heddy was finally going to stop being so mysterious.