Aofe whipped her gaze back to Kat, hoping that her relief didn’t give off desperation. “Really?”
Kat twisted her lips to the side. “I can’t promise it’ll be good.”
“Can you hold a quill?”
Kat frowned at the question before nodding carefully.
“Then I guarantee it’ll be better than what I’ve got.”
Aofe plucked a compendium page from the stack with her left hand before placing it between them on the work surface.
Kat cleared her throat. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Is that…?”
“Attie? Supposed to be,” Aofe muttered, grimacing at the attempt. Her eyes were misshapen, she seemed to have toomuch head and not enough body, and the tail was nowhere fluffy enough.
Attie let out a rumbling huff, and Kat gave the creature a sympathetic nod. “I think I can help.”
They spent their time in comfortable companionship, sometimes with silence, sometimes with small talk. Aofe showed her the examples of what she needed sketched, and Kat took to the task how Aofe imagined she focused on her embroidery.
And the results were much better than what Aofe could have produced, even on a good day.
“Thank you for your help, Kat.” She didn’t think Kat was much for physical touch, so when Kat stood to leave, she hoped her smile was enough. At the very least, the little purr Attie gave the other woman when she scratched behind the creature’s ears seemed like a good start.
Kat returned the smile, slightly less guarded than when they’d started.
“Hey,” Aofe offered before Kat turned. “I… can’t really get around much, but… you can come by any time.”
Kat fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve. “Okay.”
Maybe it was bold, to share so much, but when there were only six humans, it felt important to stick together. “I mean it. Even on days where I’m struggling, Kiz can let you into the greenhouse to just… be alone. Or we can sit in silence, or read, or I can show you a few more recipes I’ve learned. You have the one for your headaches?”
She patted herpocket. “Thank you.”
“I’ll make another batch, just in case you can’t find the ingredients, and I’ll have the, uh…”
“Drayk,” Kat said with a small grin.
“I’ll have a drayk deliver the vial,” Aofe finished on a laugh. “I’m sure Kiz will be excited to show me how that works.”
Kat hesitated, rolling back on her heels before she muttered, “You and Kizros… you, um…”
And now Aofe had a lot of questions she wanted to ask the woman, but maybe next time, if she came back. Instead, she said, “I’ve been held back a lot in my life. Some of it’s my own doing, sometimes by others.” At this, Kat’s eyes darted away. “I don’t have it all figured out, but… maybe Heck was a gift. A chance to start over. Why not do what makes us happy this time around?”
Through the curtain of Kat’s hair, Aofe could have sworn she saw the woman’s lips tilt upward just a fraction. Then she nodded and left without another word.
And Aofe really hoped she’d come back again.
15
A NIGHT IN HECK
Kizros
Kizros brushed his hair to the left, leaning closer to the mirror as he tilted his head either way to inspect the change. It looked sophisticated with his glasses, enough to go with his plaid linen shirt and best trousers. Well, best gardening trousers. He wasn’t going to pull out his array of suits for this.
