“Wow,” said Yuè as she opened the doors to the pizzeria. “This is kinda crazy.”

Muncheese’s, with its sea of booths adorned in checkered tablecloths and its tall sign out front offering $8 mega slices to motorists on the nearby freeway, had been their go to spot ever since that first day when Max met Nellie. The menu offered all sorts of crazy topping combinations - chicken BBQ ranch, shrimp alfredo, lamb sausage with feta and green peppers, etc. - along with a vast assortment of chicken wings and flavors, the hottest of which were often used for a spice competition at the restaurant. The winners of said challenge received a free t-shirt and got their picture hung in the back between the arcade cabinets and all the tacky memorabilia from local children's sports leagues. Nellie and the Sorairos all attempted the gauntlet when younger, but had since settled on the sweet heat that mango habanero offered.

The place was hardly ever crowded either. Orders came quickly as a result, and familiar faces were treated gregariously by the cooks and staff who were always happy to catch up and share a laugh. But when Nellie and Yuève walked in that night, the entrance was packed to the brim with refugees from the street fair who had gathered around the restaurant's TVs to catch the endless coverage of the Fort Maelstrom attacks. Most were glued to the screens, too anxious to speak, while some hugged their families close and others expressed their discontent with the chaos that Meteora would bring into the world. 

“Order 53, you're up!” 

Nellie shouldered her way through the crowd and saw that not everyone was there to keep up with the news. She found that other groups had settled in tables and booths, hoping to distract themselves from the turmoil on TV with a warm meal. She scanned their faces in search of Arashi and the others, but Yuève came up beside her in that same moment and drew her attention towards the serving counter.

“Raul, wait!” She darted towards her brother. Raul held a fresh pair of pizzas in his hands and was nearing the end of a conversation with the cook who had served him, when he whirled suddenly to keep a rushing Yuè from crashing into him. “These better not have olives,” she said. “You know I can’t stand olives.”
“Just pep and lamb sausage,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Where’s Nel?”

Yuève breathed a sigh of relief, ignoring his query as Nellie walked over. They greeted each other in turn before he guided them over to the back where the other Sorairos sat in a booth near the window. Tei had his head in his hands, staring longingly at the night outside, while Max spoke to their mother about his STARS proposal.
“I still have contacts in MAACE,” the Tennkā woman said, thinking it over. Before her time in Comet Hill, Arashi had worked with the Machian Aerospace Agency for Cosmic Exploration as part of her conscription with Tennkū. Once they turned eighteen, all Tennkā children were required to give one year of service to their nation, the Isles of Wind, before joining the workforce or pursuing any form of higher education. Arashi had served as a test pilot, and it was during this time that she had met Yuève’s mother, Roslyn. She’d met Max’s family, and Raul’s parents as well, but she and Roslyn had forged a friendship that would last even after Arashi’s pregnancy and her move across the world. “They might be able to get you the parts you need.”

Max gleamed, happy to have help with the project, but turned quickly as the pizza’s steaming aroma called for his attention. “You’re back!”

“What happened?” Arashi asked the girls while Raul placed the pair of pies on the table. “Where did you go?”

“We parked the truck closer,” said Yuè, taking a seat beside Nellie and Max. “In case anything happens and we need to get out of here.”

Arashi raised an eyebrow at this. Yuève was known for lying her way out of trouble. “How? I still have the keys?”

“Oh!” The curly haired girl reached for her phone. “Max installed an app on here to let us unlock and use the truck.”

“Hey, I helped!” Tei claimed.

“What? Ugh.” Arashi rubbed her temples, the heat of the pizzas rising to fog her glasses. “Is that why I’ve had to refuel so often? I thought the mileage was just getting bad.”

“Don’t look at me.” Yuève shrugged, unable to hide a smirk as she reached for a large slice of pepperoni. “This is the first time I’ve used it.”

The others, who had already devoured their appetizer, followed suit and began picking apart the pizzas. Nellie grabbed a slice from the lamb sausage pie and her stomach gave a loud grumble at the anticipation of finally being fed. When had her last meal been? With so much on her mind she didn’t realize how taxing the day had been.  

“So what’s up with Maelstrom?” Yuè asked mid-bite. “Have there been any updates?”

Raul finished the last of his crust, and goaded his sister before anyone could answer, “Someone’s in a better mood.”

“Homegirl needed to eat, that’s all.”

Max spoke up then, delivering a very matter of fact report on the events after the street fair. Fort Maelstrom had instilled a curfew and locked down for the night, with a vote scheduled later in the week to decide whether or not they would bring in the Machian Marshalls to patrol the city. The Marshalls were the only united military force in the world, serving Tennkū and the Eden’s Rosid, and were deployed only to quell large musae conflicts. The only problem was that the Eden, Andrew Erra, was nowhere to be found. He had been scheduled to kick off the Meteora celebrations in The Pharum, but there had been an attack in his quarters as well and no one had seen him since. 

“Well it can't be musae,” Yuè pointed out. “Main Phara is too far from the coast, so that rules out Tennkū, and it’s not like meteora has even reached The Pharum.”

“Okay but consider this,” countered Raul, “Wind musae can fly. Or maybe they were already stationed there, waiting for the right moment to strike.”

Max didn’t seem convinced. “But why? Tell him mom, the Tennkā love musae, no matter their powers. They’re guardians of nature…”

Nellie sipped at her drink and gazed out the window as the conversation went on. Her gaze drifted down from the snowdrapped Thalatchee mountains, knowing that The Pharum - a city so large it spanned the entire western half of Nithica - waited on the other side, to a line of oak trees near the restaurant that ran parallel to the nearby freeway. She couldn’t remember the number of times she’d thought of fleeing town on those vast, never ending trails, aching to know different lands and meet different people. Comet Hill wasn’t her home. She wasn’t from Nithica and though she loved the coast, it wasn’t like she’d become attached enough to the small town to spend the rest of her life there. The Sorairos made things better of course, life was tolerable and genuinely fun while they were around, but somehow she got the feeling that they’d still do okay without her. Even after meteora, she hoped that they’d all get to know more of the world and travel far with their powers.

Reaching for another slice, Nellie watched as countless vehicles boarded and exited the freeway from smaller sidestreets, darting from lane to lane, each as eager as the next to arrive at their destination. Where are you going? she wondered, hoping that the people in those cars weren’t fleeing because of the Maelstrom attacks, the same way she’d wanted to run from hardships.

“We’re good on time, you know?”

She returned her attention to the table and caught Max offering her a gentle grin behind his round glasses. “Forty minutes,” he said, brandishing his watch with confidence; it’d been a great idea having him keep track of the countdown. “Give or take a few seconds.”

The rest of the table shook their heads, laughing. “Don’t worry,” Arashi reassured. “You’re not going to miss it.”

Nellie looked back towards her, and Raul, and Tei across the booth. “I know. It’s just that…” She bit her lip. “I dunno, I didn't think tonight would be like this; with all this turmoil and uncertainty around musae.”

In response, Arashi placed a hand on Nellie’s wrist. Her pale eyes sympathetic. “Chaos like this is ever-present,” she said, “You can’t let it weigh you down if you want to fly.”

Tei looked up from the growing pile of pizza crusts on his plate, raising an eyebrow skeptically. “But not like us, right? She can’t really fly.”

“No, you’re right,” Arashi replied, tussling her son’s hair. “The Tennkā are indeed special. But you kids are all dreamers, and dreamers are notorious for finding their own ways to fly.”

Nellie nodded gratefully and reached for the shredded parmesan. She didn’t want to have to express herself further, but she was saved the trouble as Arashi rose from the table with her purse in hand. 

“I’ll go warm up the truck. It looks like people are finally starting to clear out.”

The staff had turned off all of the restaurant's televisions, giving the street fair refugees no reason to linger. It was a bummer that they weren’t able to enjoy the festivities longer, but overall it was better that there were going to be less people around once Meteora arrived. There were only so many meteors after all. 

Raul took his seat again as Arashi made for the service counter. He licked his fingers clean of marinera and grabbed one more slice from the tray, leaving the last piece for his siblings, as his eyes filled with speculation. “I’ve always wondered what the shower would be like, being among all those colors…” 

Seeing him like this, Nellie couldn’t help but think of the boy she’d known growing up. After the observatory, Raul had remained afraid and distant for a long time, traumatized by the loss of a family he couldn't remember. He didn't speak to Max or Yuè all that much, and though he held great respect for Arashi, he was only truly affectionate towards Tei. It had taken him years to befriend and open up to Nellie. She'd had a fight with her father that day and was reluctant to return home despite how late it was. Raul found her on the porch, hesitating to move and invited her inside to paint with him. She wasn't any good, but Raul didn't seem to mind as she pried about his technique and the way he used colors on the canvas. He liked to capture moments in the day that made him feel warm, hopeful, and safe to drown the cloud of shadows in his head. In return, Nellie recounted her experiences with her father and how she still longed to find her mother, wherever she may be, and from then on, she always seemed to recognize the scenes and events in his paintings. 

Raul had become much more family oriented since then, caring for all his siblings as if the next day could be his last with them. Nellie wondered how he'd use his powers should he receive a meteor. Would he stay at home, safeguarding his community as musae were encouraged to do? Or would he join her in wanderlust, traveling far and wide in search of adventure and unforgettable experiences? 

“Is that enough, Nel?” Tei’s voice cut in, teasing her as his siblings so often did to get a flustered response out of her. 

Nellie’s face grew warm as she let out an innocent, “What?” followed by a dramatic puff of air. At that, the other Sorairos turned their attention towards her and found Nellie’s pizza drenched in a pyramid of parmesan. Their laughter filled the restaurant whole. Yuève saved her, rationing a chunk of the powdered condiment for herself before Nellie, who was shaking her head with pressed lips, took a bite out of what was still an excessively cheesy slice. One by one, the sharp, savory flavors melted in her mouth, and before she knew it, her eyes were wandering again; back to the window, and the streets outside. 

The moon had settled in, bright and ominous overhead, lighting the mountain peaks to the west. Nellie leaned further into Max, hoping to catch a better glimpse of the stars but saw only a handful of them amidst the freckles of her reflection. The heavens were all but void.

Moments passed, and nothing happened. Then, without any warning at all, the night rippled and a star fell silently from its perch in the sky. It burned the world around it on its descent, hurtling through any cloud that dared to stand in its way. Nellie saw the object for what it was; an earth meteor, enveloped in the verdant wisps of its vibrant energy. It raced down the freeway, cutting a jade streak over the cars and hovervehicles below until it crashed with a resounding Boom! far away, out of Nellie’s sight. 

Her chest swelled with excitement and at the top of her lungs she cried, “IT’S HERE!”

“I saw another!” Tei declared, his face now against the glass. 

 Other diners turned their attention to the windows, as desperate wails echoed from down the street, where the meteor had struck. Nellie turned to Yuève, who sat at the edge of the booth, imploring her to move. “Go!”

“It must be early!” Max cheered, “Of course it’s early!”

“Wha–?” Yuè blinked, moving to let her out after a long moment. Too slow.

“Come on!” Nellie climbed over her and bolted towards the exit.