Cosmic pulled the van up her gravel driveway. Her home was only a short drive from the marina. The talk with the True Anchor hadn’t gone well. Oh, she seemed concerned enough about Fatal’s attack at first, but the more she’d detailed the encounter the more it seemed to put her mind at ease. She’d tried to argue how close they’d come to losing their only tracker, but that suggestion is ultimately what hurt her case the most.

  Silvered had suggested that Fatal's initial attack was nothing more than a feint. That the use of the pepper spray had likely always been her plan rather than something she came up with on the fly. The True Anchor agreed with this line of thinking no matter how much Cosmic had fought it.

  In the end she ended up taking the blame for placing their only tracker in peril and it was deemed fortunate that Fatal had merely left them with a warning. Cosmic had tried to argue that Fatal was so much more powerful and dangerous now and the Anchors were dangerously few in number as is. All the more reason, the True Anchor had decided that it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

  That was it, they were just going to abandon the area to Fatal and there was nothing she could do about it. She wasn’t arrogant enough to think she could defeat Fatal again, She was much faster than in Cosmic's memory, not just in movement but her ability to blink had clearly improved. In the past it would have been 2-3 minutes before she could blink again after her first strike, that's how she’d been defeated in the pocket dimension. With Fatal able to jump again in under a minute, and every blink being a possibly deadly blow she couldn’t dodge there was no way she could guarantee a win.

  Shura sat in the driver's seat collecting her thoughts as the sun sank behind the mountains to the west. She pulled the keys out and twirled them as she stepped up to the front door and let herself in. The house was refreshingly cool, the aging mini split trundling away quietly in the kitchen. The light of the TV flickered from the living room and she followed it in.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Her youngest, Elizabeth lay on the carpet chewing on string cheeses and staring at the cartoon playing. Cosmic took a seat on the couch.

  “How was your day squirt?” Cosmic addressed Elizabeth quietly.

  “Bruh.” Elizabeth. “I wanted to try some aged cheddar and mom was all like… nah. It was like… criminal. I cant even believe she did me like that?”

  Shura wasn’t too familar with the cartoons Elizabeth was allowed to watch but it seemed like in this one, the main character, A tomboyish girl with a red bat, seemed to have a violet haired girlfriend. That was… new… back in her day open queerness in children's media hadn’t really been a thing.

  She sat back. “Huh.”

  She had to wonder about how things had changed. How things might have been different with Fatal if the world had just been different. If She’d been different. She knew it wasn’t Fatal’s fault, not completely.

  Shura got up and wandered into her empty kitchen. The light was on and there was evidence of recent cooking but nobody was around. She pulled a beer from the fridge when somebody grabbed her from behind.

  “Heya~” Came a familiar voice.

  “Hey.” Cosmic put the cold can up against her lover's wrist.

  “Stoooop!” Cosmic found herself being pushed away. “You’re awful.”

  Cosmic cracked the can and took a long sip. “You love me.”

  She pulled Cosmic in for a kiss and held her there for a minute. Then she shrugged. “Sometimes, in passing.... I guess we can stay married.”