But who should she bump into in the hallway but her next-door neighbour. 

"Ah!" She startles, then looks at Dove's wrist. Catching the telltale cyan shine of the LEDs there, her voice drops an octave and gets a lot softer. 

"Oh. Dove?" 

"Yeah, um, it's me. I... didn't expect to run into you out here."

"It's Liv, right?" 

"Yeah, it's me. I was worried, but you kept having groceries delivered still, so..." 

She meets Dove's gaze. "Been cocooning?"

Dove hangs her head a little. "Yeah. The studio letting me go was... it hurt."

"... I didn't do anything for Hearthtide, but, well. It's traditional to take stock on Ashday. So I guess I'm doing that."

"Would you like a little company?"

"You know, I... think I really would. It's been forever since I talked to someone out loud. I was beginning to forget how my own voice sounded."

"Oh, darling. That's no good, that's no good at all."

Liv tuts, and closes and locks the door of her apartment. "Let's go to the garden in the lobby together. It'll help. Trust me. Okay?" 

"... Okay."

"... would you like me to hold your hand?"

Dove flushes, but nods. 

"I would like that very much."

Liv reaches out, with her braceleted hand.

And Dove hesitantly lays her hand in Liv's.

And off they go, down the stairwells together, Dove slow to know the way but led on easily by Liv. 

At the bottom, there's a small seating area in the lobby with a tiny little garden, not much more than a few potted plants. But it's more greenery than Dove has seen for almost half a year. 

They sit together on the bench, and hold hands. 

"Liv?"

"Yes, dove?"

"Can I hug you?"

"Absolutely."

And moving very slowly, Liv gently embraces Dove.

Dove hugs back, and exhales hard. 

"Thank you. Really. I know you have work and things, but -"

"Darling. I haven't seen you in more than six months. Keeping you from wasting away is worth more than a shift. I texted in that I was taking a community support day on the way down. My manager will understand." 

Dove sags against Liv. "You didn't have to do that for me." 

"It's what they're for, dear." 

And Liv squeezes Dove hard and firm. 

"Let's get you out of this apartment building and to a nice il'ka. You look like you need some sunlight and maybe a nice warm drink." 

"A cold drink, please. But I appreciate the thought."

"Oh, right, I'm sorry, it slipped my mind. But yeah, it makes sense you might not feel... up to that after six months' cocooning."

"Yeah..."

"One thing at a time, okay? Let's just focus on getting me to the il'ka for now."

"Couldn't have phrased it better myself."

And with one last squeeze, the two part. 

"Ready to brave the cold?"

"As I'll ever be, I think."

"Then let's go."

They head out the lobby doors, and crunch away through the snow. There's a short beaten-down footpath to the cleared sidewalk, and then it's not too far to the station.

"Look," Liv says, pointing at a scraggly-branched birch that's bare of any leaves. "A whole tree. You're doing great at this outside thing."

That startles a laugh out of Dove, and she squeezes Liv's other hand firmly. "Thank you," she says with a genuine smile. "You're being such a help I feel like I don't really even deserve it..."

"Nonsense," Liv says with a smile. "You're just as precious as I am. And I'm very precious. Worth more than diamonds. Certainly any insurance adjuster would say so." 

"Yeah," Dove says. "You're really the best. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. It's all to make sure you don't waste away, precious dove. You need sun and wind and snow and people to talk to and a life to live outside your four walls. We're working on the easy stuff right now. It'll be okay."

"Yeah," Dove says with a sigh. "Still. It's flattering."

"Maybe I'll convince you about that warm drink yet, if that's how much you blush when I show you basic common courtesy."

That gets another laugh from Dove, and a smile. "Yeah," she says. "Maybe you will."

"I'm shifting a little... I can feel Sparrow wanting to come to front. Is that okay?" 

"Anything that makes you all more comfortable."

"Then yeah, I'll let Sparrow forward."

And her body language shifts a little, getting more open and broad. She clicks her bracelet over to red, and runs a hand through her own hair a little more self-conciously. 

"Hey, cutie." Her lips curve up a little and she leans in and kisses Liv's shoulder. "We're feeling a little better already."

"Is it really so surprising when you're moving and getting the blood moving and talking with a cute girl about what you might or might not want to do at the il'ka at the end of the train ride?"

A full-fledged grin comes to Sparrow's face. 

"Not at all," she says. "Not at all."

"I should be careful or Hawk'll be out here any minute now."

"I'm sure that could be arranged," Sparrow says with a catty little smile. "Do you want to see her?" 

"Oh look," Liv says. "It's the station." But she grins anyway. 

"That it most definitely is, and that most definitely is not an answer to my question!"

Liv laughs. "Alright, alright. You win. You're out-energying me now. Just - try and remember there's more outing to get to, yeah? Save that energy, you'll get to use it soon."

"Oh will I," Hawk positively purrs, her body language shifting in an instant and the intensity of her stare quadrupling. "Sounds fun."

And then she's gone, leaving a blushing Sparrow behind. 

"Hawk..."

"Aren't you just a barrel of surprises today." Liv smiles, and clicks her own bracelet over. "Think I'll hand this one to Lindsey."

"Awww!" Lindsey grins and reaches over and messes up Sparrow's hair. "Look at you, bantering away and us not even at the il'ka yet. I'm proud." 

Sparrow giggles and pushes the hand away. "Stoppit! Yeah, uh, Hawk can be kind of a lot. But we love her."

She checks the train signage. 

"One minute till the train arrives. You sure you still want to come with us?" 

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The train pulls into the station, and Lindsey and Sparrow get aboard with a clatter of feet. They both take a seat on one of the benches together and intertwine their hands again. The train doors close, and they pull out of the station, picking up speed fast. 

"My il'ka is at Watergrove station, or we could do yours?"

"Watergrove sounds fine. I think we'll be okay. Just..." Sparrow squeezes Lindsey's hand, looking around at the other people on the train. "Thank you for coming along."

"It's really nothing, but alright, you can win the politeness judo for now." 

Lindsey squeezes Sparrow's hand back, and smiles. "We'll get there. Anything in particular you'd like to do while you're out?"

"One thing at a time, I think. This is... enough for the moment."

"Alright. There's nothing wrong with treating yourself gently." 

"Anything you want to talk about?"

"No, not really... It's not like I've been doing a lot that's interesting."

"Do you maybe want to talk about the latest news a little, catch up on what's been happening in the world?"

"Only if it's good news. And please, no politics."

"Well, then, hm. They're putting up a new library in East Springs?"

"That is good news. I hope that goes well."

"I hope so too."

And Lindsey lapses into silence for a little while.

That's alright by Sparrow. This trip is being... hard enough without having to natter on for every second of it.

And so they sit together in silence, until...

"Next stop Watergrove."

"Ah. We're almost there "

"Still doing okay?"

"Still doing okay."

They pull into Watergrove station, and the doors open, and Lindey gets up and helps Sparrow up as well. Out they go onto the platform, snow crunching under their shoes. 

"It's this way to my il'ka. It's not far at all." Lindsey leads Sparrow on, hand in hand.

"Alright, then. I hope it's cozy."

"It's an il'ka. Of course it's cozy." 

Lindsey stops for a moment, and hugs Sparrow again. "Doing okay?"

"I think we'll need to curl up for a bit at the il'ka, but... that's no great hardship."

"Yeah. Easier to push on than to go back right now. I get it." 

She lets go of Sparrow, and steps out a little faster, dragging her along by the hand. "Not far now. In fact, I can see its sign — there, look —" 

Sparrow laughs, and squeezes Lindsey's hand back, and lets herself be pulled into the safety and warmth of the il'ka itself. 

Lindsey draws Sparrow past the counters, flashes her ID to a host — "She's with me" — then flags down a server and pays for a private room in the back. 

"There," Lindsey says. "I paid for three hours, so —" she gestures at the bed in the tiny little room. "Get cozy."

"Thank you so much," Sparrow says. And she takes off her coat and boots, setting them to the side, and slips in underneath the bed's covers and lays her head on the pillow.

"I'll check on you in thirty minutes," Lindsey says with a small smile. "Rest well." 

And she closes the door behind her, and leaves Sparrow in the dull red glow of the LED lamp at the bedside. 

Sparrow exhales...

And Dove rushes in to take the space she was missing. 

Nothing to do now, but to rest. 

She closes her eyes, and embraces pillow. 

A timeless time passes. The gentle murmur of the il'ka outside her door fills the space and lulls her to sleep. 

She's safe here, for a little while.

She wakes to Lindsey sitting at her bedside, gently running her fingers through her hair. 

"Wake up, sleepybird," Lindsey croons. "It's been almost an hour and a half."

"Ah..." 

Dove stirs in the covers, nudges Lindsey's hand away, and sits up. 

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I... think I'd like to take you up on that warm drink now."

"You'll have to come out to the back room to drink it. No drinks in the private rooms here."

"That's probably a good policy. Certainly it'd help prevent accidents. Um... Should I keep my clothes on or..." 

"Please, don't force yourself for my sake. I can tell you'd rather be clothed, and that's okay. We can just talk and you can sip your drink and I can pet your hair a little. How's that sound?"

"Embarrassing, but... probably worth it."

"Then you have your answer. C'mere, up up up." Lindsey gets off the side of the bed and tugs at Dove, urging her out of bed.

Dove gets a little smile, gets up, and gets hugged for her trouble. 

"Alright," she says. "A couch?"

"A couch."

They head out to the back room of the il'ka, where girls and a few boys in various states of undress are lounging around, browsing on their laptops, cuddling, and in a few cases doing gentle petting. Lindsey flags down a staffer wearing a pink lanyard, and they come over with a small smile on their face. 

"Evening, you two-and. Having a nice time? Anything I can get you?"

"I'd like to store my coat, and Dove here would like a warm drink. Dove, what would you like - coffee, nectar...?" 

"I've actually never drunk before, so I'm not sure what I'd like. Sparrow has, usually she gets it in coffee, but I think... I'd prefer a mango nectar?" 

"We've got a one-drink limit here for patrons. Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, I think so. Mango nectar, please."

"I'll get that for you right away, then. Lindsey, your coat?" 

"Here." Lindsey passes over her jacket, extracting her phone from it in the process.

"Do you want anything to drink, Lindsey, or...?" 

"A cold lemonade please, I'm spotting for Dove."

"I'll be back in two shakes. Settle in, take a load off."

"Will do."

By mutual agreement, Dove ends up with her head in Lindsey's lap on the couch, being gently petted and caressed through her clothing. She closes her eyes, and more time flutters past, with the murmurs of low voices around her lulling her gently.

December returns a few minutes later with a small tray, on which are the requested drinks and a small locker key. 

"Have a nice evening, you two," she says with a small smile. 

"Thanks, December." 

Lindsey takes the drinks and sets them on the couch's end table, and gets Dove to sit up again. 

"Up up up," she croons gently.

Dove grumbles a little, but sits up and accepts her glass of mango nectar. 

"Alright," she says. "Um..." 

"You don't have to drink it," Lindsey says. "Just so we're clear. But it would probably help.'

"Yeah." 

Dove takes a breath, tips back her glass, and takes a small sip. 

It tastes of mangoes, sweet and ripe - and underneath, the smooth, slightly bitter taste of agave econal, tinging the whole drink with a spicy overnote not too dissimilar to cinnamon. 

As it hits her stomach, she feels the warmth of the ellecol inside her, and the world seems to sharpen a little, each sensation picked out in higher fidelity, the low murmurs of the crowd now individual phrases she can tune into and out of at will, the feeling of fatigue that's been with her all day easing as the stimulant works its magic on her body. 

"Ahhhhhh..."

"Fascinating. It seems like you're getting a stronger effect than I've seen Sparrow get from an equivalent drink. I can see your pupils dilating a little. Isn't it funny how sharding interacts with biology sometimes?"

"Yeah, it really is." 

She feels a little more confident already, and she hasn't even finished her drink yet. 

"... I should probably pace myself," she says, a little reluctantly. "Could you pet me a little more?"

"For sure. Hand me your drink and I'll put it on the side table."

Dove passes her drink over, a warm flush on her cheeks, then settles back into Lindsey's lap to get petted. 

And for a while it's just the gentle patterns of fingers in her hair, whorling and sweeping, making intricate, delicate swirls across her scalp. 

It feels amazing. 

Lindsey keeps tending to Dove's hair, stroking her side, and every so often giving her another sip of her drink. 

And slowly, as more and more ellecol works its way into her system, Dove starts to fantasize, imagining Lindsey's fingers tracing their way under her clothes to settle on some delicate parts indeed. Each trail of Lindsey's fingers through her hair is so intense as to almost overwhelm her. She doesn't want to do anything else than be in her arms, feeling her touch, being hers, hers, hers... 

If Dove were less warm right now, perhaps she'd wonder why she was suddenly crushing so hard on her next-door-neighbour, but given everything Lindsey and Liv have done for her in the past few hours... It just seems obvious that she's theirs.

For her part, Lindsey is good and doesn't push, despite the temptation. From how widely Dove is grinning, it seems likely that she's touching stoked, even though she's had just one drink. She'll have to keep in her head that Dove's a lightweight. 

Instead she just keeps gently, gently petting. After all, she does want Dove to have a good time. That was rather the point of bringing her out here. 

And time passes, and slowly the ellecol works its way through Dove's system. 

Slowly, Dove comes back to herself, feeling flushed, a little embarrassed, and very, very much more in love with Lindsey than she thought she was an hour ago. 

"Um..." 

She speaks up hesitantly, reluctant for the petting to stop. 

"Something you'd like?" Lindsey puts a teasing little lilt into the question.

"Lindsey... I'm pretty sure I'm still warm right now, but... can we have sex?" 

"Yeah," Lindsey says. "I think we can. I think it'd be good for you." 

And she nudges Dove up off her lap, takes her by the hand, and leads her back into their private room, leaving their drinks behind.

Dove flops onto the bed and starts discarding her clothes, a lingering blush on her face. 

"Lindsey..." She looks over at her neighbour with new sense of respect in her eyes, and not a little infatuation. 

"My precious Dove." 

Lindsey closes the door behind them, comes down onto the bed, kneeling over Dove, and starts feeling her up, tracing her side, her stomach — then slips her hand up and pushes off Dove's bra, taking a firm handful of her right breast and pinching her nipple between her fingers. 

"Does it hurt? Is it too much to bear?" 

"Not at all," Dove says, and takes Lindsey's other hand and presses it in between her thighs. 

"... touch me more," she says. "Touch me here." 

Every tracery of Lindsey's fingers feels absolutely heavenly, and she hasn't even reached the good parts yet... 

"By your command.~" 

And Lindsey slips her hand beneath Dove's waistband, finds her soft little cock beneath, and starts to stroke.

"Ah... Ah, fuck..." 

Dove is quickly overwhelmed, the warmth of the ellecol inside her combining with the sensitivity of her most delicate parts to wash pleasure all through and over and within and without her, prickles of electric sweetness rolling through her and coiling in her core. 

"Lindsey... Oh, oh wow..."

"My Dove." 

And Lindsey seizes Dove's lips with hers, and kisses her, deep and long and lingering, as her fingers keep working their magic. 

"Lindsey..."

Dove twitches in Lindsey's hand, quickly coming to full hardness, her body rocking in against each touch as heat washes over her again and again. 

"Ellecol is fucking amazing..." 

"Oh, you haven't even gotten to the best part yet." 

And so saying, Lindsey starts to slowly, torturously kiss her way down Dove's body. 

"Ah... a-ah... ah! - aaaaaahhhh, oh... oh, wow... oh..." 

Dove blushes incandescently as she's meticulously taken apart, anticipating the touch of lips every time for long, golden seconds before they meet her skin again. 

And at the end of Lindsey's trip... At the end... Grace it's hard to keep her thoughts in any kind of order... but at the end — 

At the end of her trip, Lindsey pulls off Dove's panties completely, takes the head of her cock into her mouth, and starts to suckle. 

And Dove's world becomes nothing but wonderful, incredible sensations. 

It lasts for a long, long while. 

The sensations are almost too big to even fit in her head. They feel like drowning, like a fog of heat and pleasure and bliss - and like precise, delicate laps of Lindsey's tongue and bobs of her lips, every sensation picked out in incredible high fidelity. It's like all her nerves have been restrung denser, finer, and all her body sings with the feeling of arousal and its sating, suckle after suckle —

Lindsey speeds her pace, tucking her hair behind her ear, and the wet sounds of lapping tongue and the little pops of deep suckles fill the air, every drag of Lindsey's lips across Dove's cockhead branding her mind with intense pleasure —

Dove's breath speeds up, and up, and up, great heaving shuddery breaths driving out of her lungs, and she twitches and throbs in Lindsey's mouth. 

"Grace yes, yes, yes, please, more, make me come, make me come —"

And Lindsey obeys, sucking hard and firm and fast, bobbing on Dove's cock like she'd been training her whole life for this moment —

And Dove gasps out a sharp breath, and spends herself into Lindsey's warm, wet, and all too eager mouth. 

"Haaaaaaaaaah... Oh, wow..." 

Lindsey giggles, pulls off, and swallows. 

"Good girl," she says, and reaches up and tousles Dove's hair. "Feel less wrapped up in your coccoon now?~"

Dove giggles, and nods. "Yeah," she says with a soft exhale. "Yeah, totally." 

"Good. That's what we were aiming for." 

Lindsey smiles and pats Dove's hair. "Should I extend the room to give you some time to rest?" 

"Please. I'll cover it." 

"Alright then. Rest well."

Dove grabs at Lindsey's hand as she goes to get up. 

"Come back," she says. "I want to cuddle you."

"Alright," Lindsey says with a smile. "Since you asked so nicely." 

And out she goes to find a staffer, letting the door click closed behind her.

After another hour of cuddling, it's getting towards five PM, and Lindsey and Dove reluctantly leave their private room behind to have a simple supper in the il'ka front room and perhaps head home. 

Since it's Ashday, the il'ka is doing a special buffet-style meal, with sliced cheese and meats, empanadas and sausage rolls, persine wraps, and a selection of fresh fruit and cup yogurts to dip them in. 

And that specialness of the meal is what draws the next words from Dove's lips -

"You know, it's bugging me that I didn't do anything for Hearthtide. My girlfriends online didn't push for me to get presents for them or anything - I think they didn't want to stress me out further - but now I think that it might have been better for them to have. I feel the lack of it. It's still ashday... still enough time to do something real. Do you know anywhere that still does the candle-lightings for the new year?" 

Lindsey puffs out a little air. "I didn't take you for the superstitious type." 

"H-hey! I swear I'm not, usually, it's just - I want to do something to commemorate the day, and candles are the done thing, and -" 

"Relax, relax. It's a harmless enough little rite. It's when people start talking about the spark of the Asrai calling them on to greatness of whatever kind that I start to get my hackles up. I understand, especially near Hearthtide. The old traditions still have some sway. And I think... if you're doing it for yourself, and not expecting the touch of grace to descend from on high and solve your problems for you, then it's okay. Sometimes we can all use a little more hope in our lives." 

"Yeah." 

"So you do know a place?"

"There's an old shrine down in a park in East Springs that had a bonfire-lighting this year. You could go light a candle there, I'm sure they'd have some. But I wouldn't advise getting too friendly with Asrai devotees, especially in your state. Perhaps you could simply buy a candle and light it at home?"

"I've done enough things at home in the last six months. I think it'd be a good little excursion. It's not like you have to believe deeply to light a candle." 

"It's not like you need to push yourself harder either. That's Asrai theology talking in your head, even if you don't know it. You've done enough today. You should really rest."

"If you want something to do, why not shop for a present for your girlfriends? I'm sure they'd accept a late present, even if you had to send it by snail mail." 

"I... hadn't really thought of that. I guess I thought that if I missed the day it was broken for good." 

"Do you know any good shops around here? Especially... anywhere that sells nice soap? One of my girlfriends has a real thing for skincare products with nice scents and I'd like to get her something she'd like." 

"There's a gift shop down across the way called Odds and Ends that sells a variety of interesting trinkets. I could show you where it is? It's just across the parking lot in the building to the left, you wouldn't have to go far."

"Do you think they'd stock candles?" 

"Only one way to find out, I think. Do you want me to come with you, or? It's starting to get late and I have some errands to do, now that you seem to be more or less recovered..."

"I'd appreciate the company, but I don't think I'd need you, no. If you want to get back to your life you certainly can. See you tomorrow, okay? I can tell you about my adventures. And if you don't hear from me by noon, please knock on my door, okay?" 

"I can do that. Thank you for the evening, Dove. It was surprisingly fun for me, honestly."

Dove nods, slips on her coat - she'd already gotten dressed to be in the front room of the il'ka - and with a few final bites of her food, she puts her purse on her shoulder and sets out into the snow again. 

Help me out here, Sparrow?

I've got you. Rest, lovely dove. We'll handle the hard part.

She clicks her bracelet over to purple, since she's feeling more like the host than like a spark right now. 

"See you, Lindsey. And thank you for everything."

With the ellecol mostly out of her system and Dove out of front again, Lindsey's once more back to being just... a friend. Maybe a little better of a friend than she was this morning, but still. Just a friend. 

"It's no trouble. Have a good Ashday."

"You've certainly made sure of that," Sparrow says. 

And out the doors she goes, into the evening, the sun low on the horizon and the streetlights starting to come on. 

Odds and Ends is not so hard to find, and given their line of business are all too happy to mail her girlfriend a nice bar of honeyed soap. Sparrow pays for it and a small candle scented with honeysuckle, and heads back home. 

It's another hour back, but that's not so bad. The Ashday crowds feel more familiar, now. Her breath hangs in the air, a soft cloud - but it's alright. She'll be home soon. 

Up across the path to the train station. Bumping down the tracks to her home station. Back up the sidewalk, and up the beaten-down path to her apartment building. Up the stairs again and down the hall. 

She's home. 

She stands the candle on the table where her morning cereal bowl still sits, untouched, pulls a butane lighter from a drawer in her kitchenette, and lights it. 

This is for you, Dove. 

Thank you.

Maybe not such a bad Ashday after all.

To freedom. To escape. To places other than these four walls. And to Lindsey, too. 

She blows out the candle, smiles to herself, and goes and gets into bed.

Tomorrow is a new day.