The Iron Skeleton

Chapter 19

Hannah yawned and stretched her arms before rising from the couch in the hotel suite Chariya had reserved in Innutuk's capitol city. They'd arrived two hours ago, and since 6 p.m. had rolled around by then, the princess had decided it would be best to wait until morning. Innutukian culture, she'd said, frowned upon most nocturnal activities and cast a suspicious eye upon them all.

Hannah shivered as a frigid draft swept across her body. She glanced over at the balcony door across the room and nodded. Wendy had gone outside for some fresh air and had failed to close the door completely. It'd been a while, though, so Hannah shrugged and slipped some shoes on to join her.

Wendy swiftly pocketed her phone upon hearing Hannah's footsteps and gave her a guilty smile.

Hannah obliviously grinned back. "Hey, Wendy! How're ya feelin'?"

Wendy nodded. "Pretty good. Beautiful night, isn't it?"

"It is!" Hannah readily agreed, "Reminds me of backpackin' back home with mah dad."

The blonde eyed her closely, noticing the subtle downturn of her voice at the end of her statement. "Oh yeah, I can imagine Odego's skies are amazing at night."

Hannah nodded, and then a moment of silence lingered between the two. Before long, she perked up and said, "I wonder how the sky looks to Brant. Like, ya know how he can see real far and all dat, well, I wonder how much detail and stuff he can see."

"Yeah, I have no idea." Wendy replied, slipping her phone from her pocket when Hannah looked away.

However, Hannah couldn't miss the uncharacteristically wide smile on the Danlashian's face. "Who're ya textin', darlin'?"

Wendy bit her top lip and her eyes darted down to her feet. "Aaron. We're comparing notes on how the constellations look on our side of the border."

"Awww, that's so cute!" Hannah exclaimed, "You too're lookin' at the same stars!"

"I guess so." the blonde replied with a reserved smile.

The brunette laid a hand on Wendy's shoulder. "Can I ask ya a question?"

"Of course you can."

Hannah giggled. "Maybe it's weird of me, but...do ya...like him?"

Wendy's icy blue eyes darted away from Hannah's and studied the horizon instead. "More than he knows."

"Dat's so sweet! But why dont'cha tell him?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know."

"Whatcha mean by dat?"

"I've just..." Wendy bit her lip, "I've never felt this way before, and I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm...I guess I'm just being myself, and hoping that's good enough."

Hannah frowned. "You're sayin' that as if there's more to do. Anythin' beyond dat's just an act ya can't keep up forever."

"That's true." she agreed. "Aren't you a little young to be that bloody wise? How do you know this, and I don't?"

"Well...I dunno, it just makes sense. I mean...fakery's how ya make movies, not conduct business."

Wendy laughed. "Well, a whole bloody lot of people do handle business that way, but it shouldn't be."

"True dat." A mischievous twinkle settled into Hannah's eyes. "Well, I'd better leave ya to it, huh?"

Wendy smirked. "Well, I guess so. You don't have to if you—"