“Hi, I'm Roshni Saina!”

“Good to meet you Roshni Saina, I'm Bella.”

Bella offers her calloused hand and they shake it enthusiastically.

“Memory Bank is off limits, but other than that you can go wherever. Not to brag, but people say my head is a good one. Get ready for cliffs, crevices, and a lot of water,” at that, Roshni and Amari exchange a knowing look, “Sensory Array is a big ol' lighthouse. I think that's it!”

Roshni nods, looking forward to a trip to somewhere weird and wonderful for a few hours, excited for a ride down the white water rapids. Bella seems like a cool person too! Maybe she can hang out for a bit after this.

They sit down, make themself comfortable, and dive in.

Bark crunches underfoot. The birds sing in the trees. They retract their hand quickly from wet fungus they accidentally touched on a tree. Fresh air surges into her lungs in rapid shallow breaths.

“Amari, can we stop?”

Xie turns around to look back at her from a few steps in front down the woodland trail.

“Sure! No problem, let's sit.”

They cuddle up on a log, Amari putting xir hand behind Roshni Saina's back to support them. She relishes the ache in her own lungs and legs. They sit for a while as her breathing slows, Amari telling local legends and stories about the forest. Roshni lets them wash over her, caught between musing on them, feeling the forest, and wondering what stories she'll tell about this forest one day.

Flames surge up out of the barrel as the filthy fabric is thrown in. Roshni takes Katya's hand and squeezes, watching the flames of a life that wasn't hers dance in her eyes. The smell is bitter and awful and perfect at the same time. Before long there's just ashes at the bottom of a barrel, promising something new will rise from them.

“Good morning Roshni!”

Roshni beams. It is a good morning. Her space in Calla and Lily's flat is even smaller than her room, but it is her space. Already there's a little painting of a bird she saw in a shop sitting next to her bed. She liked the way its wings curled.

“Do you have any plans for the day?”

Plans! “Oh! I'm going to go and look around the park. And get the bus! And see Amari again. I'll help cook dinner as well.”

“Do you like lasagne?”

“Um. I don't know! I'd like to try it. Oh, but first I have some emails to send.”

“Hi Evangeline, I have no idea if you’re a good person or not, but I’m totally sorry about the dog! Hope you’re doing better.”

“Hey Leif, sorry about the oversharing and overwhelming trauma dump! I’ll try not to do that again…”

“Hi Mort, I know I exploded in front of you and you had literally no context as to why I did that…”

“Hey Honey, thank you for being one of the first people to reach out to me. My Father told me to avoid you, but you seem really nice.”

“Hello Tim, sorry for encouraging Katya to punch you again!”

“Surprise!”

Roshni stands on Katya's doorstep, holding out the two tickets. BEGINNERS WOODCARVING, they boldly proclaim. Today.

“I– What!? I thought you were just coming for the day. I didn't plan–”

“Katya! Katya I know you didn't, that's why it's a surprise. I knew if I told you about it you'd try and plan it yourself. I made sure you weren't busy though! We still have a few hours to get ready.”

Katya stumbles on her words. “I, um, I've never carved wood before.”

Roshni beams. “Neither have I! But I want to try. Let's go and make a mess of it.”