Murmur pulled the oversized, battered coat around her shoulders- a cap fixed over her ears to block out the heavy spray of rain, as though those gollies' gods that Murmur couldn't quite bring herself to believe in were displeased and spitting over Vienda.

Her face was damp and her belly longed to be warmed with the comfort of rum. After giving it thought, Murmur was heading back to the harbour, where the streets weren't so thick with gollies. She wasn't sure what she'd do to one, after the Fendin incident.

There was something brewing, Murmur knew her people and could smell the hard water of a storm on the horizon- she would be back, of course, but only when the water was off the heat and had turned ice cold as the rain water pooling in droplets on her hair. She stuck her tongue out and tasted old water on her tongue, rain from a water cycle that would long outlive the small human girl.

She arrived at her destination and stood at the front of the house for a little longer than she needed to, watching for some signs of movement from behind the faint glow of light ebbing onto the glossy paving, the water making even the trash glisten, the street covered in a shimmering gossamer. The house seemed warm and inviting though that was a hyperbolical statement for somehwere located in the downs and Murmur could hear the faint mewling of Rita. She felt as though this would be difficult, though Murmur wasn't entirely sure why.

Walking forwards Murmur pressed a hand against the window, the pane felt cool to the touch her fingers dark in the evening despite the light from a faint street lamp. After a few minutes she rapped softly on a window, the room inside light. "Seth," she said faintly. "Seth it's me."

Seth had been sitting in an old but comfy chair, curled up with Rita and a steaming cup of coffee, watching the fire dance in the hearth, its warm glow filling the room completely, flickering yellow and orange light off the plain walls. He stroked the cat's fur absently, wishing it wasn't raining so much. He liked the brighter, sunny days. The dry heat of summer. The rain made him tired and lazy. He was about to drift into a short nap when he heard the faint rapping on the window and saw Murmur standing there in the rain. Setting Rita carefully on the cushioned chair, he leaped to his feet and ran to the door, swinging it open and letting in a cold wet spray of Loshis air. "Murmur!" He smiled broadly, "Come on in out of the rain!"

She stood in the doorway, uncertain for a few moments, biting her lip with one of her remaining teeth and feeling her teeth chatter. Murmur looked down at her boots which were caked in mud and wondered if she could get this over with quickly and in the doorway before realising that a good stiff drink would probably warm her more sufficiently than her brother's jacket, the coarse material brushing harshly against her neck.

"I don't mind the rain so much," she shrugged, looking up at the sky. "Closest fing I get to a bath, right Kitten?" Murmur grinned and stuck her tongue out a little but stepped into the house, feeling almost overwhelmed by the warmth- of course, it had nothing on a golly house, but compared to the cold of outside it was delicious. The Mug in her stirred and sighed in satisfaction as her teeth stopped chattering and she dripped onto Seth's floor.

"I'm leavin' town." she said, shrugging the coat off her shoulders- never one to mince her words, and believing like pulling a bandage from a wound that goodbyes had to be done quickly, "punched a Seventen in the face, pissed off a fair few more gollies. So I'm leavin' afore I get arrested- ye got any rum? I'm beyond thirsty."

Like a dog, Murmur shook her head vigourously to dry off- she smiled at Seth, her best, bravest smile. "So it's back te Old Rosie fer me." I'm going to miss you was what she wanted to say, but she didn't think she could- Murmur hardly went in for all that sappy stuff. Instead she wiped her nose on the sleeve of the thick coat, somehow hoping that they would mean the same thing to Seth.

Seth took Murmur's coat as she shrugged it off, hanging it on a hook on the wall, not paying much attention to the mud she tracked into the house. He didn't care so much about little things like that. It could be cleaned up later. And then Murmur broke the news, and he blinked, taken aback, not quite sure how to handle it, exactly. I'm leavin' town. Really, it took a while to sink in. He didn't want to believe it. "I'm leavin' town." Again. The words rang in his ears and he stared down at the floor for a moment, barely noticing Rita as she meandered over to Murmur, mewling softly up at her.

"Leaving..." "Punched a Seventen..." "But..." But what? "But you just got here! I.. I mean... you just got settled in, and... it took so much for you to leave Old Rose behind and... and now..." He bit his lip, shaking his head slowly. Leaving. Why did it upset him so much? Surely it wasn't goodbye... forever... surely she just... why couldn't she simply lie low for a while instead? Why was it so...? "I... hang on.." She had asked for a drink. Maybe she could stay longer if she had a good stiff... something alcoholic. He crossed over to the counter, opening a little cabinet beside the sink and pulled out a few bottles of inexpensive drinks, all of them alcoholic. Among them was Rum, which he handed over to Murmur.

"So what did I miss, exactly?" If she had to leave, he wanted to know what exactly had happened. Gods, he would miss her- he missed her already.

Murmur accepted the cup and gripped it in damp fingers, taking a deep glug of rum and feeling it burn through her cold body."Turien Fendin," she said, watching the brown liquid swirl like a storm in a teacup, "Wick butcher near where I was working didn't have 'is writ. Couple of Seventen were there te remove 'im....an' I didn't think."

She sniffed sharply and looked at Seth, her blue eyes flashing angrily, "The older I get, the less 'appy I am with this place. Ye start te see more, an' ye start te wish ye could do more te help....I dunno ,Seth..."

Murmur sighed heavily, "It ent..." sipped again, "it ent like home . Not with someone else in th' ouse I grew up in an' the Seventen kickin' out people that'd been around fer as long as I can remember. I'm not sure if I wanna stay..."

"But I don't wanna go back te who I was in Old Rose. In Old Rose I wasn't...I mean I got better." After I met you were the words that went unspoken. If Murmur were an eloquent person she could envisage how the next part of the conversation would go 'because you were there to save me. And not just from bullets or stupid bets, but from something inside me that, if left unchecked, would have grown and grown- eating me from the inside out and leaving me with nothing. The thing is, you're my best friend, Seth'

As it was, Murmur gulped down the last of the rum and spat in the cup. "Figure a cooling off period down in Old Rose would be useful. If I can get the funds I might even go te Mugroba- though that's moren likely jist a passin' dream."

Mugroba? Gods, if she went there... why, he'd just have to go with her, wouldn't he? No, no, that was silly. He was with the Resistance, after all. He had responsibilities, now, even if they were only on the odd occasion they actually needed him. What good would he be if he left? But Murmur... Oh, gods, would he miss her. He sniffed, picking up Rita as she rubbed against his leg, "I know, Rita..." I know. I'll miss her too.

He wasn't sure exactly what Murmur was trying to say other than that she had to leave because she had been brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to punch a Seventen. He didn't catch on her unspoken words. Perhaps if he had... "Mugroba, huh...?" He smiled weakly. "That's... quite the swim." His voice was light and teasing, but it carried undertones that clearly screamed 'I'm going to miss you so much.'

"Are you going to come back?"