you are the fairest of all the stars

1

Vi first touches down at 11 PM.

It was a flawless plan, truly. Take a month off to do school remotely, ultimately working on a project to bring new tourists into her hometown, and to pass her final. In the process, spend time with her family and relive countless years of her youth watching her sister plan the local festival of the year.

Then again, how much traction can you really get for some explosives and a sad little slum town that always smells like fish?

The flight was nothing short of miserable, crowded, stuffy, and long. She's all but gasping for air when she exits the airport, backpack and suitcase in tow while she scouts out her father's old Ford.

It's beyond relief when she sees her little sister bowl out of the passenger door, nearly taking her down in a rib-crushing hug.

"Hey, kiddo," Vi says with a lopsided smile. Struggling to breathe? Sucks to suck. That's just part of the gig.

"Took you long enough," she sniffles into Vi's shoulder, not even giving her time to react before turning and dragging her along to the truck. She doesn't wait for her to get situated in the back seat to shove her aside and plop down in the middle.

"You'd better not start anything back there, Jinx," Vander says fondly, pulling the truck out of the arrivals line and onto the main road. "I hope you're not too starved, Vi. It'll be a while before we get home."

"Mhm." Vi just leans back in her seat, hugging her backpack loosely against her chest. This is going to be a long month.

The first hour spent at home is a blur. Vander tries to offer her dinner, she politely declines. Vi wants nothing more than to fall face forward into her old bed, day clothes or not, and hibernate until she feels alright again.

Her sister, however, has different plans for her.

She barely escapes to her room by one in the morning, then promptly collapses, not to be heard from for the following nine hours.

-

Wednesday morning is slow and warm and so very home. She awakes to the smell of her father's cooking, something she thought she'd forgotten while away at the academy, replaced by instant dinners and greasy hangover food.

The beach breeze floats drowsily through the open windows of their house, seated comfortably overlooking the port town that made up Vi's old stomping grounds. Children quietly passed a basketball between themselves in the court on their cul de sac, and crows fought over the remains of a bagel in the street. She found herself on the balcony, staring out at the open sea in contemplative silence, waiting for her sister to come to hound her for gossip.

The hounding never came.

Instead, a gentle hug from behind her.

"What's up?" Vi asks, turning to face Jinx. Gods, she'd grown up fast.