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1. An Unexpected Solo Mission
"...No! Absolutely not! Why do sis and I have to be separated?! This violates the fundamental laws of the universe, sis!"
Subaru Station's dock. Shutia was making her position known from the Silver Anchor's ramp at considerable volume.
The job: internal inspection of a large transport vessel and simultaneous removal of the debris drifting around its hull. The guild's efficiency-based assignment had divided the work — one person outside in the ship, towing debris with the anchor; one person inside the transport's narrow corridors making fine adjustments to the sensors. Two people. Two locations. A physical barrier between them.
"Stop dragging this out, Shutia. Who was it that nodded when we confirmed the job details yesterday?"
Ledea was checking her work light and securing her tool pouch, unhurried.
"Because sis said 'this is the most efficient approach' with those sparkling eyes — I wanted to look good in front of you so I just went along with it! But when I think about it calmly, more than an hour without being able to meet sis's eyes — my mental circuits are going to burn out!"
"You're being dramatic. We'll have comm the entire time, and the distance is only a few hundred meters. — It's time. You to the Silver Anchor's pilot seat. I'm heading to the transport's hatch."
"Sis—! Wait — at least let me hold you for three minutes before you go — one minute, even — I need to top up—!"
"We'll be late. ...I'm heading out, Shutia."
Ledea didn't turn back. She let Shutia's increasingly desperate appeals land on her back and kept walking, through the airlock and out.
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2. A Calm Sister, a Struggling One
The dim corridor of the transport vessel *Rootmoot*. Ledea moved through the wiring duct with steady magnetic-boot footsteps, precise and unhurried.
"...Third section, arrived. Beginning sensor sensitivity calibration."
Shutia's voice came back through the helmet speaker.
*"...Copy. Silver Anchor here, starting debris collection at the designated points... Ugh, sis's voice through a speaker loses about twenty percent of its quality. I'm not getting the direct cranial resonance I need—"*
"Stop talking unnecessarily. Focus on attitude control. Every time you pull a piece of debris, there's a faint vibration transmitted to this side that disrupts the work."
*"I know... I know sis is serious about the job, but right now what I need more than anything is sis's warmth... Oh no, the comm just cut out for ten whole seconds! Sis, are you alive?! Nothing bit you?!"*
"...Nothing kills you in ten seconds, and there are no insects in an unmanned vessel. Shutia, please focus. Your monitor readings are fluctuating."
Ledea sighed and adjusted the sensor calibration with careful fingertips.
For her, working alone was not particularly difficult. Compared to the time before — the long stretch of time when there had been no one — having someone on the other end of a comm channel was already more than enough. A particular kind of settled feeling.
For Shutia, it was the darkness of a universe from which the sun had been removed.
Thirty minutes into the work.
Ledea was replacing the last module when the hull took a hard impact.
"—What was that?!"
*"Sis?! Are you okay?!"*
Shutia's voice came through at the pitch of someone who had stopped breathing.
*"I'm sorry — there was a high-density residual fuel tank mixed in with the debris — when the anchor pulled it, there was a small detonation, and fragments hit the transport's outer wall—!"*
"Checking outer wall damage. ...Fracture near the fourth hatch. Internal pressure is starting to drop. ...Calm down, Shutia. This is manageable."
Ledea's voice was, remarkably, calm. She pulled the emergency repair kit from her tool pouch and followed the sound of escaping air to find the fracture.
*"How am I supposed to be calm — I might have hurt sis — I'm coming over there right now, hold on—!"*
"You will not. If you leave the ship, the surrounding debris will impact the transport. — Listen to me, Shutia. Stay there and finish your side of the job. ...This is an order. From your elder sister."
On the other side of the comm, she heard Shutia's breathing stop.
*".....Understood. I trust you, sis."*
Several minutes later, Ledea's precise emergency repairs stopped the pressure drop entirely.
Shutia, on her side, cleared the remaining debris with a precision that had nothing ordinary about it.
The joint operation — conducted in two separate locations — completed without further incident.
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3. A Sweet Resupply
When the job was done and the two of them came together in the Silver Anchor's living area, Shutia had reached her limit.
"Sis... you're safe... you're really safe..."
She was moving like someone who had been running for a long time and had just stopped. Ledea opened her mouth to say "good work" —
"—ah—?!"
In the next moment she was pulled in, both of Shutia's arms closing around her with the accumulated force of everything that had been held back for the past hour. No room to move. Shutia took Ledea's small frame and held it against her chest with the intensity of someone who had spent time genuinely afraid of losing it, and they both went down onto the sofa.
"Shutia! Too close — I can't breathe—"
"No. I'm not letting go. Not ever. My sis-reserves are completely depleted — Ledea-energy at critical levels. If I don't resupply right now, I won't make it to morning."
Shutia pressed her face into Ledea's silver hair and breathed in. Slow. Thorough.
"...Mm. ...Yes. There it is. That smell. The one that settles everything. The anchor point of my soul... Sis is alive. Warm..."
"...Obviously. I told you I wasn't injured."
Ledea's expression was resigned, but she had assessed the state of her sister — the genuine exhaustion, the relief that was still working through her system — and stopped resisting.
Shutia held Ledea in place with one arm and began patting her head slowly with the other, the large hand gentle and deliberate.
"You did so well, sis. You were alone and something went wrong and you handled it. ...I'm sorry. If I'd been more careful, you wouldn't have had to deal with that."
"...I wasn't frightened. I knew you were outside."
Ledea said it quietly. Shutia made a sound that wasn't quite words and pressed her cheek against Ledea's.
"I love you so much when you say things like that! — Hey sis, actually, can we file a complaint with today's client? The crime of attempting to separate us is not a minor offense."
"Please don't file complaints on those grounds. ...Really, this girl. You never do grow out of it, do you."
Ledea exhaled — but the corner of her mouth had gone somewhere soft.
A presence that needed her this completely. An affection that came from someone larger than herself, relentless and overwhelming in equal measure.
That this had become, somewhere along the way, one of the things she could not do without — Ledea had stopped arguing with the fact of it.
"Listen, sis. Carefully."
Shutia stopped the patting and looked at Ledea directly.
In her eyes, possession and tenderness had made something together that was neither one alone.
"Sis belongs in my arms. The outside world is too dangerous, and too cold. I'm the only one who can protect sis, and the only one who can make sis happiest. Do you understand?"
The weight of it was considerable.
Ledea closed her eyes slowly.
"...Perhaps. Your arms are, at any rate, somewhat stifling."
"I'll take that as a compliment! Okay — resupply continuing! Tonight I'm holding sis until morning—!"
"...I have not given permission for that. Shutia, let go. ...Shutia!"
The protests, warm and insistent, dissolved into the amber light of the ship's interior.
The time apart was being paid back, and neither shadow was in any hurry to separate. Outside, the quiet of space continued. Inside, it was not quiet at all.