Unhappiness was a recurring theme; that much was confirmed when Nikolai returned home. Martha knew there was only bad news from the exhausted tone in his voice and the way he dragged the words he spoke. He was grateful that she did not play her usual part in bombarding him with questions for answers she could do nothing about.

So, Nikolai just sat there in the chair of the dining table. The sun was still blasting away outside, making the hut a lot more stuffy than it usually was. The glare coming in through the opened windows irritated him enough that he went to shut all of them. He could do nothing about the small cracks along the hinges but at least the house cooled down significantly.

Martha had retreated to her own bedroom to take a nap. How she could stand the heat was beyond Nikolai. Was it an elderly thing to like things toasty? She was afterall in her mid fifties.

Lana dropped by not long after she had gone to bury Cammie's ashes with the little girl's poor grandmother. Nikolai decided not to go. He had a promise to worry about and visiting the cemetery again was simply too soon...

"Let me get this straight," Lana said when Nikolai told her what was on his mind. He wished he hadn't. "You want to risk your life following these people, to get your hands on materials you don't even know about?"

"Well, when you put it that way..." Nikolai muttered grimly.

"You don't know what their plan is. You don't know these people. You don't even know where or when's the next meeting."

"So, I'll just find out," Nikolai said, shrugging. "You heard Oswald. People died, and with luck he'll want to hire me."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous the border is?" Lana asked.

"No, do you?"

"Oswald's men were caught and EXECUTED."

"You have a better idea?"

"Yes!" Lana said, throwing her hands up in the air. "We go talk to him."

"You wanna talk to the mayor?" Nikolai said, staring at her. "A man we know to be stealing from everybody? Lana, if he could tax US, he would -- simply for existing."

Lana was opening her mouth to retort when a groggy Martha came stumbling out through her bedroom door, looking confused. When she spotted Lana, immediately her eyes widened. She turned to Nikolai questioningly. "What's all this about the mayor?" she asked. "Why are we paying taxes?"

"Mrs Freydon," Lana said firmly. "Nikolai thinks it's a good idea to work for Oswald --"

"I don't think it's a good idea. I never said that," the young man fumed. "I just think it's our best shot at getting an antidote."

"Please talk some sense into him, Mrs Freydon," Lana sighed, putting a hand to her temple. "It's really the stupidest thing I've ever heard coming out of his mouth. Sorry for being blunt," she added to Martha.

"Well..." Martha began, turning from Nikolai to Lana and then back to Nikolai again. After pausing for some time, she said, "You know, it's none of my business. I think it's better if a couple's problem is solved --

"Mother," Nikolai warned in a loud tone.

"-- without involvement of a third party," Martha finished, nodding.

Lana threw her hands up, slapping them down onto the surface of the dining table. "Why does everyone think I want something romantic?" she said. "It's not the right time -- Is the plague NOT important enough? If nobody cares about solving the problem, then fine! Everyone should just die!"

The young woman pushed her chair back so violently that it threatened to fall over. They watched as she stormed towards the front door, opened it, and left. Nikolai then raised an eyebrow at Martha.

"See what you did?" she said.

Nikolai stared at her. "You did NOT just make this my fault."

"It was a stupid thought, Nikolai," Martha said, frowning. "Your father wouldn't have approved. Working for Oswald is as good as suicide."

"I'm working with him, not for him," Nikolai snapped. "And I thought you were always neutral when it came to judging other people."

Martha hesitated. Her eyes darted around the room as she thought of a quick counter. "Yes, well," she said, avoiding his gaze. "I don't like to judge, but at times, we have to... form an opinion about others. With educated guesses."

"That's the same thing..." Nikolai scowled. "Anyway, if I don't work for the cure, how else are we getting the antidote? YOU have five hundred Silph? Because I surely don't."

Martha sighed. Nikolai raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"You don't understand how Lana feels at all, do you?"

"What are we even talking about?" Nikolai asked, frowning in confusion.

"The whole situation," Martha said, "has nothing to do with the antidote."

Nikolai let his arm fall to the table with a loud slam. He dropped his forehead to the table with a thud. "Then what. Is this. ABOUT," said Nikolai, knocking his forehead onto the table with each sentence. He looked up at Martha wildly. "Why is everything so damn difficult lately?"

"It's part of growing up, Nikolai," Martha said patiently. "I can't imagine going through the blockade to be legal, so that itself is already dangerous. And we all know the mayor isn't exactly... the most responsible person around. So, what if you didn't come back?"

Nikolai frowned.

"Lana may seem strong, but she's still a woman. She's delicate on the inside," Martha explained when Nikolai continued to look blank. "There's something going on between the two of you, that's for sure."

"But she doesn't want --"

"No, she never said she didn't want anything romantic," Martha said, shaking her head. "If there's anything the two of you understand well, is that you know it's not the right time. Courtship. Marriage. These things demand commitment. And right now, you're both committed to finding this cure, am I right?"

"Yeah."

"You'd only jeopardize your friendship if you both decided to take it to the next step, am I right?"

Nikolai shrugged. But he knew it to be true.

"So, think about how it would make her feel if she lost you," Martha said. "Obviously think about me as well, but since we're on about Lana..."

"I guess..." Nikolai sighed. He sort of understood where this was going but it still didn't solve the problem they had.

"She's already lost her family," his mother continued. "You're all she's got left. So, pardon her if she's crossed with your self-sacrificing attitude. That's what I meant when I said it wasn't about getting the cure."

The young man stared at Martha. Little light entered the room with the windows closed and all, but he could see the paleness in his mother's face; and although she was still plump, her large tunic made her seem much smaller than he remembered her to be. Had the one week of his absence affected her that much?

Martha sighed, waving her hand while she stepped back into her bedroom, as though she was calling an end to the topic.

"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Nikolai said.

Martha stopped in her tracks, turned around and gave a gentle smile. "Better for a woman to be angry at someone else, than at the man she's fond of."