Nimbus Child I: Games of War

Chapter 4

Back at port, Kongō had separated from her group of old ladies.

Since Sonne didn't allow her to use her legs – that were tightly bandaged to keep the nanomaterial in place – Myōkō had roped Bismarck into carrying her (she would have done it herself, but Kongō was taller than her, so that would have looked a bit goofy).

"Where do you wish to go, Kongō?", asked the blonde.

She was tall, with sky blue eyes, long hair and fair skin, her clothing consisting of some sort of olive uniform (she thought navy blue didn't suit her) adorned by the German flag in black, red and gold hanging over one shoulder.

Kongō quite liked her expressive face – it blushed easily: "I have nothing particular in mind", she smiled up at the other, making her blush, "is there a place you wish to go to?"

Bismarck avoided her eyes the moment she felt the heat on her cheeks: "There isn't."

"Not even a bit?"

A shake of head made Kongō humm in thought: "What would you usually do today, Bismarck?"

Both of them knew each other for multiple decades already and had become friends in the first ten years, so they of course knew each other's routines quite a bit – Bismarck's normally included relaxing things.

"I would normally take Stauffenberg and Geist out for a walk", she looked down at the German Shepherds, Stauffenberg, and the white puppy, Geist, trotting beside them happily, "but we're already doing that."

Their usual schedule had been dragged forward to accommodate Kongō.

The fast battleship looked over her dutiful carrier's shoulder to take a look at Myōkō, who was trailing behind them, for a moment: "And what would you do then?"

Bismarck thought about it for a while, her legs carrying them along the usual walk route: "I think I would read a book:"

A hum: "Let us do so, then."

"Huh?", Bismarck looked down at her, "wouldn't that bore you?"

"I am not so easily bored, dear Lord."

With Tirpitz being the Lone Queen of the North, "Lord" had become an – perhaps inevitable – nickname, together with "Child King", which was only used by Hood.

A barely noticeable blush was the case this time around: "Then I'll bring you to my ship. Uhm, what about Myōkō...?

Kongō didn't even look at her, though they had probably communicated beforehand: "That won't be a problem. May she board you as well?"

"Of course, I don't mind. Myōkō likes standing on high places, right?", the battleship wasn't asking the heavy cruiser directly because Myōkō didn't talk unless strictly necessary, "she can stand on my superstructure, if she wants."

"Many thanks, dear Lord", Kongō started playing with some of Bismarck's hair that fell over her shoulder.

The blonde looked down when she felt her hair being tugged on, Kongō not meeting her eyes as she was busy braiding.

"What is your opinion on the child?", Kongō began after a while of pleasant silence.

They had entered the Sakura Avenue by now, pink cherry blossoms falling down around them and light softly filtering through the foliage, the dogs happily running around and trying to catch petals.

"Which one?"

Kongō was pretty old, after all. There were not many ships here that were older than her – everyone could be a "child".