Triple Point

Chapter 19: Warm Welcome

April 26, 33 AE

Fortunately, it seemed like Camilla actually did heed Elsie's request because she was her calm and stoic self when they left for the airport early Saturday morning. Since the Org didn't want Elsie's car to be left in a public parking lot where anyone could tamper with it, they organized a ride for her and Camilla to and from LAX airport, and Elsie's family would be picking them up in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Like in Tokyo, the Org had her use a private screening and waiting area in LAX, but had advised her there would be no such accommodations in the small airport in Flagstaff, and Elsie was more than fine with that. She knew all of the precautions were for her safety, but she was getting tired of it.

While the early morning flight should've been perfect for Elsie to fall asleep quickly, she found herself jittering in her seat with nerves. Half of her anxiety was easily attributed to the impending flight, but the other half was because she was going to see her family again.

She didn't have a reason to be nervous, really; Elsie loved her family, and she knew they would also love her no matter what she did with her life, as long as it was legal and not morally ambiguous. Still, Elsie didn't want to disappoint them, and she didn't know what they thought about whatever they heard about her from the news or their neighbors.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Camilla blatantly and calmly watching her and her knee that was bouncing up and down.

"I'm just nervous," Elsie admitted, forcing her leg to still.

"About the flight?" Camilla guessed.

"Yes." Elsie answered, then added, "and because I'm seeing my family."

Camilla nodded once in acknowledgement, but Elsie wasn't sure if she actually understood.

"It's not like I'm worried that one day I'll do something and they suddenly won't love me anymore," Elsie clarified, and her assumptions about Camilla proved to be true when she got a slightly confused look in response. "Actually, I know they wouldn't be disappointed in me unless I'm sent to jail or something. But..." Elsie sighed. "I would just hate to give them a reason to be disappointed in me."

Camilla was silent for a while, but it wasn't like Elsie was expecting a reply; she just needed to get that off her chest, and Camilla was the only ear available. So Elsie was surprised when Camilla eventually did respond.

"They would be happy you're alive," was all Camilla said.

It was such a simple statement, but something about the way she said it, while looking directly into her eyes, made Elsie almost stop breathing for a second. Flustered, Elsie quickly cleared her throat and turned to the window on her other side. She usually didn't like looking outside while they took off, but it was better than the alternative view and her mind was too distracted to realize what was going on anyway.

They landed in Flagstaff several hours later. Elsie had managed to get about an hour's worth of sleep, but it wasn't enough to make up for her early start. Hopefully, if her family had ever met her before, they would know to bring her coffee.

Flagstaff's airport was about half the size of LAX's smallest terminal, so it didn't take them long to go from their gate to the pick-up area. Elsie was looking down at her phone while they walked to text her family about their arrival, so she didn't see what was waiting for her right outside the airport's glass doors.

"That's not very subtle," Camilla commented grimly, and Elsie didn't even need to look to know who she was talking about.

On the curb, her family was waiting with an eyesore of a welcome party. Each of them had a hand holding up a long banner that looked to be a white tablecloth with a large "Welcome Home Elsie!" handwritten in bold, orange paint. Her parents stood in the middle and used their free hands to make an obnoxious amount of noise with cheap, plastic clappers. At either end were her brother and sister, each with a bundle of balloons. The balloons were sagging, probably blown up with regular air instead of helium, so the siblings waved them above their heads to give the illusion that they were floating at the appropriate height.