Colorless II: Black & White

2 - Lavender

"He still wears that damn thing." Lyra folded herself in half, touching her fingers to her toes.

Nell leaned against the brick of the wall they hid behind. She watched Kin and Cyran and another young man she didn't recognize as they walked back from the market. Kin's hat had fallen low over his forehead. His oversized robe hung from his shoulders. He looked unchanged.

"Why do you hate his robe so much?" Nell asked.

Lyra stretched her arms overhead. She grinned. "It hides his body."

"Cyran has a better body anyway. Ogle him."

While Kin looked the same as the day she left, Cyran had changed in far more visible ways. His hair, which had been short and spiky red, was longer now, almost to his shoulders. The front of it was pinned back from his face. He seemed bigger too. Before, he was tall but not massive. He was more muscular than Kin, but from a distance, he didn't look like the giant he was. Now, his muscles were better defined, his shoulders broader. If Kin wasn't wearing such an oversized robe, he'd be completely dwarfed. However, the most remarkable part of his change was that he wore a shirt. It was sleeveless. Nell imagined that was his choice. His arms were too big for sleeves. The fabric was a deep blue material, laced up tight on either side of his torso. His pants were well-tailored and pressed. He looked good; his clothes were reflective of his family's wealth.

"It's not just that," Lyra said. "It's depressing really. Those clothes."

Nell leaned back behind the wall when Kin turned his head in their direction.

"He's not looking at you." Lyra had changed, too. Her hair was the same: just long enough to tie back out of her face, with short bangs that wouldn't get in her eyes. Her clothes were more conservative than before and less streamlined for speed. She wore light leggings and a cropped undershirt that hugged her figure. Over top was a dark red, sleeveless coat that buttoned over her chest. It hung to her knees and split down the back. Her boots laced up her calves, almost to the hem of her coat. Lyra's true change was less visually obvious: a result of her injuries after the Battle of the Cathedral.

A crisp breeze blew Nell's hair forward into her face, obscuring her vision in a mess of lavender. "Damn it." She'd spent a half-hour that morning combing a knot out of her hair, and the wind was winding it together again. It still wasn't anywhere near the length of Ianthe's hair, but it seemed to tangle just as easily.

"You should cut it."

"I know." Nell gathered her hair into a twist and pinned it behind her head. In truth, she didn't want to cut it. Short hair reminded her of when she was younger and Colorless. As much as it annoyed her to keep it long, she couldn't imagine cutting it short.

Lyra clasped her hands behind her and stretched her shoulders back. She gasped in pain, but Nell ignored it. She knew Lyra would only get upset if she offered comfort. Lyra's voice was tight. "We don't have to do this. We can still go straight to the palace if you want."

"No." Nell peaked out from behind the wall again. The men were nearly to Cyran's house.

When Nell and Lyra had arrived in town that afternoon, Lyra had suggested seeing if they were around. Nell had the same thought but had been too nervous to say it. How long had it been now? Five years? Six? Her stomach churned, and she wished she hadn't eaten that day.

Lyra was still watching her. "Was the letter you wrote him really that bad?" she asked. "What did it say?"

Nell couldn't remember the exact wording anymore. She just remembered that it didn't say enough. She should have talked to Kin in person when she left instead of hiding behind a piece of paper.