Leniver lay on the couch in Rhaeos’ house. She could see the Rhaeos smoking on the balcony, thankfully the glass door was closed so the smell couldn’t reach inside. She felt herself still reeling from the views of the high rise city. The concept of assassinating people under the moonlight didn’t feel as alien to her as it should, was the Pisari girl right? Had Leniver really been an assassin before she lost her memory, rather, was the memory loss from an assasination gone wrong? 

Rhaeos had given her time to think, deliberate, but did she really have a choice? If killing was really her only skill then could she ever really hope to be more? Leniver covered her face with her hands and let the darkness cloak her, she felt herself drifting off to sleep. 

She couldn’t breathe, she looked around, she was back in the room from earlier but now it was covered in water. She couldn’t breathe, she was drowning. She tried to swim up but was hit on a roof. There was no escape, everywhere she looked there was just water. The shelves and bottles lay broken on the floor, she saw the papers from before, they were floating all around her seemingly unaffected by the water. She reached for one and stumbled, but there was only water to catch her fall. 

She was falling in the water again, there was no air in her lungs. She was drowning, she was going to die. She saw spots, she felt her airway closing. She had to get out of the water, she swam towards the glass in the walls. She banged on it trying to break it but she was powerless. She needed to get out, she wanted to get out, she had to. She could, right? She wasn’t powerless. Rhaeos said she was an assassin, assassins deal in life and death. She wasn’t powerless, she wasn’t powerless. 

She banged on the glass, she banged like her life depended on it. Her hands hurt and the pain didn’t stop, her lungs were grasping for air. She needed air, she needed it. She couldn’t hold her breath anymore. Her mouth gave out and she inhaled water down her throat. She felt weak. She hit the glass again, her hands hurt. Her feet stopped swinging, she was falling deeper into the water. 

She floated down, her head hurt, her chest hurt. She wheezed but only found water. She tried to make her legs swing, to push with her hands but she was too weak. She stopped thinking, she couldn't think. 

Air. That’s the first thing that registered. She inhaled desperately, and coughed. She was back on Rhaeos’ couch. It had been a nightmare, but the feeling of helplessness didn’t go away. She could feel her lungs straining as she greedily sucked in the air around her. She felt like the air was getting under her skin, she liked it. She liked the air. 

Leniver swung her legs from the sofa, stood on them testing them. She could stand. She hopped a little, the rugged floor dissipating the force. She finally paid attention to what she was wearing, it was comfortable. Oversized, but comfortable. She pulled on her jumper and kicked her legs. She stretched, she must have fallen asleep thinking about Rhaeos’ proposition. 

The proposition hit her back to her spiral. Helpless, she couldn’t be. Rhaeos said she was an assassin. Maybe, maybe if she dealt in life and death…..

That decided it for her, she would accept. She looked at the balcony, Rhaeos wasn’t there. Leniver would just have to wait until the morning. It was dark out after all. She couldn’t sleep though. Looking around the room she spotted some money on the coffee table, what else had Rhaeos called her, “...adept at stealing..” Well, stealing it is then. 

Leniver picked up the money and left out the door, she would be back. 

It was a cold winter night, the moon hung heavy in the sky. She thought it was gorgeous, it exuberated a slight teal glow. Had she always wondered if there was water on the moon? Leniver shook her head, it wouldn't be well to dwell on all that she had lost

She looked around the street, searching for a sign of where to head to next. She breathed in and took out a chilly hand from the coat she had stolen from Rhaeos’ coat rack. Not stolen, borrowed! 

She pointed at one side and felt a distant memory break free. A nursery rhyme, she hummed it to herself and moved her finger from one side to another. “Twinkle, twinkle, crinkle paper, squeeze and toss it past the fender. Watch it burn and turn to ash, blow it past the drury trash.” It ended on Leniver’s left. 

She shrugged and began walking, the rhyme playing in her head. Where had she heard it? How did she remember it? Did it tie her to something in her past? Leniver shook her head, trying to rid these thoughts. She didn't want to be sucked into a mystery, if the Gods had granted her a fresh beginning maybe she should take it. 

Leniver found herself in front of a bar, she looked up and saw massive buildings that seemed to extend to the sky every which way she could see. The moon had barely crossed the top of her head, it would be a long night. She had time for a drink. 

She pushed open the door and was immediately struck with inertia. The lights exalted a low purple hue and loud electronic music blasted through the room. 

“Darling, can't you see my ringing? 

A girl like you deserves a warning. 

The danger keeps me a falling. 

I can't wait with no escape

The hits baby give me it. 

You're dangerous, I'm lovin it.” 

Leniver made her way to the bartender and looked at the prices. She had stolen, borrowed, around a hundred dais from Rhaeos. The prices ranged from around ten dais. She decided on pressed vodka, she didn't have it in her for anything too soft or too hard. 

She took a seat near the back and drank the first with trepedition, and then she drank another, and another all hesitancy seemed to slip away keeping her steady until she ran out of money. Once she was out, she stood, steadying herself with a hand on the sofa and made her way towards the door and pushed it open. The songs continued to blare behind her as she left. 

“Never should they turn the lights up

Just wanna go another mile with you

Public displays of attraction

Feels like they can watch the room 

I can't get down without you 

We keep on dancin, We keep on dancin” 

Somehow, she found her way back to Rhaeos’ apartment complex. She was about to head through the door but stumbled against the railing of the stairway. 

She threw her head back, then forward and lurched her stomach. Somehow, she managed to keep the railing clean as vodka and soda spilled over the stairway. 

Leniver hadn't a clue how long she stood there for but by the time she looked up she could see the sun over the horizon.