At the airport, I took another moment to calm myself.

If there was one person I disliked spending time with just as much as my father, it was the man vehemently defending him during the trial.

Perhaps he was just unlucky. Perhaps he was ‘just doing his job’, but still;

If that was the case, he had no reason to be so chummy with the man.

He had really fought to win this case, despite the rock-solid evidence, and obviously he was sticking around, even now.

I shook my head and proceeded to figure out where I had to go.

We’d agreed to meet in the departure hall, and after wandering around for a bit, I finally spotted her, over by some pay-phones.

She was busy with her phone, but looked up when I approached.

“Ah. There you are. Come with me.”

She walked me through Departure and the gates until we reached an unused one at the very end.

There we found Peter Faire and a timid-looking engineer already waiting for us.

Mr. Faire gave a smile as we approached.

“Here we are, then? All ready to go.” He said. “Very kind of you to help us out, Captain Rhyse.”

I glanced between the two of them.

“Certainly.” I said. “What’s the occasion?”

While flying empty aircraft wasn’t entirely unheard of, it wasn’t exactly common either.

Usually a minor issue might ground an airplane for some time while maintenance crew takes a look at it, and passengers are issued onto different flights.

However the plane usually has a destination to get to regardless of passengers so in cases such as these, it would be flown empty with only the pilots and perhaps a technician on board.

I had only done a flight like this once before.

“Ah. Well, minor technical issue regarding the thrust-levers.” Replied Mr. Faire. “Quite a simple fix, if a little time-consuming. Shall we get on with it?”

I gave a quick nod, and the four of us boarded the plane.

As we set up for departure, I read through the incident log simply to familiarize myself with the previous issue.

If it should reoccur, it paid to be prepared.

Since we were not on any priority lists, it took some time to get our take-off clearance and I spent some time with my eyes closed, just listening to the hum of the machinery.

There was something about it that gave of a soothing air. A continuous drone of reassurance.

“Are you tired?” I heard Mr. Faire ask me and I looked back up.

“Oh.” I gave a quiet laugh. “No, sir. Not really, just… Just listening, really.”

I felt embarrassed admitting to it.

What a weird thing to say out loud…

Beside me, Mr. Faire simply smiled.

“It is a nice sound, isn’t it?” he said. “The sound of millions of different pieces working so flawlessly together? Between you and me, I find it rather enchanting!”

I nodded in response. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who felt this way?

In the next few minutes, we finally received our clearance, and could be on our way.

The flight to Dublin was uneventful, saved for some scattered clouds, and we touched down effortlessly at our destination.

There we handed the plane over to the crew who would take it onwards, along with a brief synopsis of our experience with it.

The officer in command, a captain with a mop of curly, brown hair thanked me for handling her so well.

“Not a problem!” I smiled. “Have a good flight.”

We parted ways, and Mr. Faire, Madam Torrens and I, along with the young technician went about procuring a trip back for ourselves.

We were split up amongst the empty seats on a London-bound flight and in about an hour and a half we were back where we had started.

“Thanks again for the help, Captain.” Madam Torrens smiled. “We’ll see you over the weekend.”

“Not at all!” I said. “Thanks for the opportunity.”

The three of us parted ways and I went to find a ride home.

When I arrived outside my flat, it was beginning to darken and a light rain came drizzling down.

I locked myself inside and headed upstairs to our home.

What a day…

With a silent sigh, I locked myself inside, and leaned back against the door for a moment.

“Avery?” I heard Essie call from the living room, and looked up.

“Heya, Essie!” I called back, eventually pushing myself off from the door and shuffling on towards the living room doorway, when Essie came out to greet me.

“How’d it go?” she asked. “The flight, I mean.”

She went across the hall into the kitchen and I followed her.

“It went alright.” I replied. “Nothing too special. And you? How was your day?”

Essie was busy going through the fridge and didn’t respond right away.

“My day..?” she echoed absently, pulling what looked to be an oven dish covered in aluminium foil.

“It was good. Are you hungry at all? I made lasagne.”

I gave a weary smile.

“Great!” I said. “I’m starving.”

As Essie went about preparing the food, I picked out dishes and cutlery and went to set the table, when I noticed a little box sitting there.

Curious, I set the dishes aside and picked it up.

There was an envelope resting on it, with my name written across the center.

No address, or stamp.

I frowned.

“Er, Essie?” I looked over, and she turned to me.

“Hm?” she said, and, noticing the box in my hands, gave a quick nod.

“Oh. Yeah, I forgot.” She mumbled. “That arrived on our door after you’d left. I don’t know who sent it.”

“That’s a bit…” I examined the box in my hands.

If the exterior design was to be trusted, it was a box of chocolates.

“I figured it was another thank you gift.” Essie remarked, going back to watch the oven.

“But it’s been sitting out in the sun all day, so it’s probably ruined.”

She passed me a sheepish look.

“Sorry.” She muttered. “I got a call and forgot all about it.”

“It’s no problem.” I smiled, placing the box aside and tearing open the envelope.

Inside was a generic card with a picture of flowers and a short message scribbled across the back.

‘Thank you for saving our lives’

The handwriting was rather neat, and for a moment I remained frozen, staring at it.

I got a strange feeling I’d seen it someplace before.

There was something about how the letters were curved in an almost box-like manner which made it stand out in my mind.

A call from Essie made me look back up.

She stood over by the oven, eyeing me with a puzzled look.

“All well?” she asked, and I gave a quick nod.

“Yeah.” I said, breathing in the scent of the lasagne now filling the room.

“It’s starting to smell really good!” I went on, placing the card aside and getting back to setting the table.

Essie turned back as well.

“It’s almost ready now.” She said. “Hold on, I think we’ve got some cider hiding away in the fridge. You want one?”

I took a moment to think about it.

“Sure.” I said in the end. “What type?”

“There’s wild berries, aaaand… apple.”

“I’ll have the berries, then.” I said, searching out some napkins from a drawer, and bringing out some candles as well.

When we went through the effort of having a proper dinner, might as well make it extra cosy.

As I added the finishing touches on the dinner table, Essie pulled the lasagne from the oven and placed it onto the cork tray I had set out.

I returned with glasses for us, and we sat down to eat.

“This is nice.” I remarked, piling lasagne onto my plate. It looked really good.

Neither Essie nor I were excellent cooks, and I appreciated the effort she had gone through today.

I knew why she’d done it too, but neither of us brought it up. This was supposed to be a pleasant occasion.

“I’m glad it’s to your liking!” Essie replied. “There was a moment where I’d thought I had messed everything up.”

“With your culinary prestige? You could never.” I snickered, and the two of us dissolved into fits of giggles.

We enjoyed our meal, talking about all things trivial, and I went about clearing the table and storing the leftovers in the fridge when we were done.

“Perhaps we could have these for dessert?” Essie said and I looked over. She had picked up the gift of chocolates and was eyeing them curiously.

“Who knows? They might not be entirely ruined!”

I went over to her and picked up the box.

Opening the lid, I was met with a bitter smell, and I wrinkled my nose.

“I dunno, Essie…” I muttered. “I think they might have gone bad.”

The chocolates inside had melted into puddles within their respective cubbies.

“Really?” Essie passed me a strange look. “How so?”

“Here.” I tipped the box towards her. “They smell rather rancid. Like burnt grain, or something.”

“I don’t smell anything.” Essie remarked, sticking her nose further into the box.

“Aside from melted chocolate, that is.”

She looked at me.

“Are you sure?”

I took in the scent again and gave a cough.

“Not sure what’s wrong with your nose, Essie, but these things smell foul.”

I closed up the box and turned to dispose of it in the rubbish bin beneath the sink.

Essie remained silent for a moment before she shrugged.

“Weird…” she muttered, turning to check out the contents of our freezer. “Anyway, we might have some ice cream or something instead.”

“Aren’t there some cups of pudding in the fridge?” I said, stuffing the chocolate box into the rubbish.

Some of the chocolate dripped out from beneath the lid and fell onto the surface beside the bin.

With a sigh, I grabbed one of our used napkins and used it to clear the mess.

Behind me, I heard Essie give a triumphant yell.

“Here we are!” she turned to me, a pudding cup in each hand.

I gave a weary smile.

“Awesome.” I said. “Let’s retreat into the living room, then, for some proper entertainment to go with our dessert.”

“I’m in a gaming kinda mood.” Essie remarked. “Wanna play?”

She glanced at me, and I shook my head.

“I’ll watch.” I said.

We settled on the couch, and Essie picked out the game she wanted to play.