Moonspear rock the boat

Although she would not deny his words, Alya had found in herself a growing conviction that there was only one of her. One of each of them. They were still three parts of a whole, but they were not quite as interchangeable as she'd imagined in her youth. And Alya was different from Lyra and Hydra, as Hydra was different from Alya and Lyra, as Lyra was different from Hydra and Alya. And for better or for worse, it was Alya that Nikai had called for, that he'd travelled with.

That had abandoned him...

He pulled back to look upon her, but she followed him only a beat later, smooshing her face against his so that their foreheads were together, eyes - blue and green - only inches apart. Alya had closed, hers, though, wondering how she'd mistaken the sweet-steady pulse of Nikai's affections for boring and unremarkable. She thought about all the boys that she'd chased after or manipulated - how Bruges had had to be coerced, how Aditya had run from her, how Vaati had tried to master her. But Nikai had always been her friend first, and a good friend, at that. And she was a terrible one! She hadn't even been able to face his - "We have to tell your mother," she blurted, remembering that Valette had not heard any news of her son's whereabouts since he'd parted ways with her.

Alya pulled back this time, glancing over her shoulder to be sure there were no onlookers in sight. Although she would not be able to keep it under wraps for long, she didn't want her family knowing she was planning another long trip just yet. "Have you been back to Easthollow?" she asked him, thinking about how worried her own family had been after just a few week's absence. Nikai had been gone for months.