Women disappeared all the time. Fion knew this. She had been taught that she should be afraid, when walking home at night. Voices in the dark were never her friends'.



"I'll be fine. Thanks anyway," her reply was just a beat too late and a little too slow. She told herself that he couldn't hear her scepticism or see that her knees now felt a little weak, softened by a bolt of adrenaline that was telling her she should be running or reaching for knife.

She took a step to the side and away. She'd outrun Lochlan. Was she paranoid? Maybe he didn't mean her any harm and she was seeing things that weren't there. She'd felt safer with the Gannon, even though he was bigger than Brady and drunker...

Why didn't she have any common sense? Nice girls didn't put themselves in these situations, from her perspective. It was easier to blame herself. In a way, Fion could be a lazy thinker, sticking to comfortable self-repproach. After all, if she blamed the tougher guy in a fight, they might beat her all the worse. She blamed herself for that too.

Brady didn't know how tall he loomed. He was a giant man, surrounded by gray mist and fog and darkness. Dim light from the inside of the Stag shone on his face for a moment. "Hey listen. I jest wanted to talk t'ye about Gannon. He's a good civ. " Brady shoved his hands in his pockets, his eyes flicking over Fion's face. She looked stiff. Guilty?

"When he's sunk he starts talkin'-- y'know. Resistance. He jest says things without thinking. I know him personal. He wouldn't do naught o'that sort were he sober." It was only a half lie...Brady had seen Gannon a few other times with his bar buddies, but they weren't close friends. Still. "So y'know. Don't let yer mouth be fla--."

His mother's voice jumped to the back of his head and said Rude to a lady! Brady I raised you better!

"Er. I mean. It's best not ter spread tales. About things that tain't. True. Wrong people might hear." Brady sniffed and wiped his nose with his handkerchief, which was red from the cold. He coughed. "Not that ye would." He didn't sound as if he believed himself, just then.

Fion was too intimidated to truly understand what Brady was trying to tell her. The warmth of the alcohol was making her head slow and throb. Part of the message slipped through. She didn't know if he thought she was Resistance.

"No, not that I would." Fion said, her voice still slow and now more drunken than thoughtful. "I see what you mean, mum's the word and all."

Fion took another step away because as big as Brady was, he didn't seem to be stopping her from leaving. Every step was one step closer to safety. If she could make it around the corner, she could run. Like last time. She could run and whether he followed or not, she'd be safe. He wasn't going to follow, she was being crazy. Crazy women thought crazy men were hiding in the bushes to grab them.

"Well, I got to go home and... Yes, go home and sleep. That's all." Fion was now a further distance away and wishing that her feet felt more sturdy on the ground.

She was being crazy. It was fine.

Brady stared at her. Did she know that he was onto her? Finally he shrugged and nodded. "Well I'll be seeing you, then." He mumbled, turning around and walking away promptly. Okay so. He hadn't done much but...it was a step in the right direction, right? He sighed and pulled his coat closer, thinking of his parents who'd expected he'd amount to something. Or at least have children for Alioe's sake. But it was too late for that. It was too late for him.

So shouldn't he ensure that the people of the future had a chance?

...Idealist. A voice in the back of his mind spat at him. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

So, he was walking away. Fion was going to walk away too. She wrapped her arms around herself to hide their shaking, kept her steps quick in the hope that momentum would keep her upright. She was a bit drunker than she'd thought or more afraid. It was frightening to be spoken to, at night, by someone she did not know.

She'd felt so powerful in the bar.

Taking little digs at Gannon and drinking like she was the Queen of the party. All it had taken was a few words outside in the dark to bring her back down again. It was fairly self-centered remorse.

She ran part of the way home, huffing at the cold air in her lungs and not resting until she was home, the door locked behind her.

What if he knew she was Resistance? He wouldn't say anything, he didn't seem the type to say anything. Was he the sort to get involved? She climbed the ladder to Piran's attic room and checked to see that he was as asleep as the sitter was, sprawled on the couch. Fion watched his breath until hers fell into the same rhythm and her heart had slowed.