That night, as Pearl changed into her sleeping attire, she glanced at the empty bunk above her own. Olaan had not once come back to sleep at a reasonable time (while Pearl was awake). Though she knew it was not due to a desire to avoid her, as ceir Novian body needed much less sleep than hers, it still only added to the growing sensation of distance between them. It was disturbing, having Olaan so close but not by her side.

Pushing the thought away, Pearl climbed into bed and stared up at the bottom of Olaan’s unused mattress. Even if co had been in the room, ceir would likely choose to rest in the lidded container of water which Pearl had bolted to the wall. 

With her mind occupied, Pearl was unable to sleep. Fear and doubt seemed heaviest when she attempted to rest so after a few minutes of letting her mind race she sat up and turned toward the small window which sat above her bed.

She’d placed the flower in its vase there, securing it with a bolt-it from engineering which one of Cohen’s engineers had assured her would generate a field keeping anything it was affixed to in place which might otherwise topple over and cause damage. Pearl wished she’d known about the device before bolting Olaan’s water to the wall.

Looking at the flower calmed her. The petals’ shimmer seemed even more pronounced beneath the moonlight. Pearl could spend an hour just staring at it during her nightly routine, emptying her mind of anything else.

She’d attempted to find the name of the flower but had been met with nothing but dead ends. It didn’t seem to originate from the Teretiwelligan home planet and a generalized search utilizing pictures and scans had come up empty. 

She wondered where Yaann had gotten the flower and why she’d given it to her. Was it because they were…friends? She didn’t know. Friends didn’t typically steal from one another and though her room was just as she’d left it she didn’t have much to begin with. In the back of her mind, Pearl always half-expected to wake up and find the flower gone, another trick.

Yawning, Pearl stayed up for a few more minutes to take in the plant before lying back down and bringing the blankets up over her head, luxuriating in the darkness.

Despite everything, Pearl hoped that one day she would see Yaann again. She wanted to see what would become of the two of them, to share a meal. She wanted, she thought as she finally drifted off to sleep, to know if Yaann had managed to see a building tall enough for her liking.