Soe and Airin are taken to the Lunaris prisons. There are lines of people already there, waiting, and being ushered in.

There are many, many prisoners.

Soe wonders how long it will be before they start cutting down the numbers. Maybe the Dark Emperor will fill the prison to its capacity and kill the rest?

Feverishly, Soe hopes Airin gets a cell.

It’s a painfully slow line - during which Soe keeps her little wish to herself - but she can endure it. It’s not like they have anywhere else to be. Hah.

But once they move up the line - the portion that’s inside - waiting in line becomes a little harder.

Nothing quite like standing in line while being stared at by celled prisoners on both sides.

Soe holds Airin’s hand again. Her other hand continues to grip her knife so hard that her knuckles have turned white.

It’s terrifying, staring into those transparent cubes. And they’re small. Just big enough for one person each and a toilet.

Not even a bed.

With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Soe shivers and presses closer to Airin. They were going to be separated.

And then, a large hand grabs hold of her wrist.

Soe whips her head around in time to watch one of the black armored guards lift her wrist up to inspect her hand.

The hand that’s gripping her knife.

Soe pales. Would they take it as a threat?

“It’s not-” Soe moves to assure the man, but he takes her knife before she can explain herself. Her wrist throbs when he lets go.

The knife looks tiny in his hands as he inspects it. First one side, and then the other.

“...It’s not sharp, “Soe murmurs and she’s not sure if she spoke loud enough to hear. Airin wraps her free arm around Soe’s front, in comfort.

And they just stand there, hugging, as they watch the guard turn the knife in his hands. He drags a thumb lightly over its edge and it comes back uncut.

Then he holds it up, pinched between his thumb and forefinger. And he laughs mockingly.

“And what do you think you’re going to do with this? Gonna get into a knife fight with the Emperor?” The man laughs again, loud guffaws that make Soe shrink in embarrassment.

It’s not like she could just say that the knife was like a security blanket to her.

“You’re not winning any fights with that.” The knife clatters onto the floor. “Hah. But of course, even this would be dangerous, for weaklings like you.”

Soe’s flushed face stares down at the ground. She waits a full minute to make sure he won’t come back to crush her dreams further, before moving to pick up the knife.

They get back in line and the waiting continues.

--

“I… I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on anymore!” Airin cries into her hands once the guards have moved far enough away that they’re unlikely to hear.

She paces in her little cubicle. Soe watches her from her own cell and she can only be glad that their cells are adjacent to each other. Their cubicles shared a wall, deceptively thin and transparent.

Soe still wishes she could be on the other side of this barrier, with Airin.

“I just..”Airin’s voice lowers into angry mumbles.

Soe waits.

“Can I just… talk?” Airin asks, “Please.”

Soe gets it.

She nods.

And so Airin talks and talks and talks.

She talks about the stories she learned as a child - carefully skirting around the Legend, previously one of her favorite stories - and she talks about funny events that happened in her life.

Soe keeps silent and listens, even when Airin retells stories she’d once told Soe. Even when Soe had been there for those stories. Even when Airin runs out of stories and starts repeating them again.

Soe listens - pressed against the barrier separating her and Airin - as Airin’s voice cracks.

Soe watches Airin cry. And all she can do is listen.