Page 11 of Ira

“Very well. I brought some things for us for lunch.” I handed her two small packages wrapped in paper and tied with twine.

“Oh. You shouldn’t have.” Meera’s smile was tight as she unwrapped the first one, peeking inside it before carefully wrapping it back up again. “I really appreciate it, thank you. But I don’t eat meat.”

“You don’t?”

She shook her head. “I never have. I was raised vegetarian.”

For a brief moment, I longed for the shadows of my ancestors to surround me here and now and bring me home. How had I made a blunder so quickly?

“That one doesn’t have any meat in it,” I said apologetically, nodding at the second package. “It’s sweet. A traditional cake from my part of the realm.”

“Ooh, I love cake. Did Calix make this?”

I almost laughed at the idea of the mad chef attempting anything so delicate. “No. My parents brought a large stash of it from home for me.”

Of course, it was simple enough for me to visit Sunlis and purchase some for myself, but I rarely did. I was too well-known there. I couldn’t simply move around the place in peace, getting what I needed. Every trip was a production.

Though, if Meera enjoyed it, I suspected that I would happily schedule more trips home on my days off.

I set aside my own meal as Meera carefully unwrapped it, smiling slightly as the thin gray layers were revealed, stacked in circles that fit into the palm of her hand.

“It’s wobbly.”

“It’s steamed.” That was all I really knew about it, but it gave it a sticky, wobbly texture.

I watched, probably too intently, as Meera nibbled on the edge of the cake before shooting me a beaming smile. “This issogood. It tastes like… coconut? It’s not quite the same, but that’s the closest match I can think of. Thank you so much, Verner.”

“No problem.” I slid the cake I’d brought for myself across to her, already intending to bring her a larger portion the next time I saw her from my stash. “Have both since I’m going to be eating all the meat.”

“Oh, are you sure?”

“Very, I have plenty more back at the apartment. And I can always go home and collect more.”

“I guess it isn’t hard to travel places in the shadow realm, not like where I’m from. Do you visit home often?” Meera asked, taking a bigger bite this time while I unwrapped my lunch.

“Not really. My parents would like it if I visited more often.” Meera glanced at me curiously before determinedly looking away as though mentally telling herself not to pry. When first meeting her, it seemed like she was less expressive than the others, but I suspected that she was just expressive in different ways. Ways that required paying a little more attention. “They’re very set in their ways. Sometimes, it can be tiring to be aroundthem, constantly hearing about how the old ways were better and how the world is falling apart around us. That kind of thing. Does that happen in the human realm?”

Meera pressed her lips tightly together, eyes briefly sparkling with what I hoped was amusement. “Oh yes. That is definitely a universal experience.”

I waited, starting on my first portion of roasted meat and hoping that she’d elaborate a little more. Life in the human realm had always intrigued me—it was probably why I’d stayed in the Guard for so long. We spent more time there than most other Shades, who only stopped in briefly to feed. Well, back in the before times. Who knew when we’d be able to return to the human realm to feed again?

“I don’t really know how to do this,” Meera said after a long stretch of silence, gesturing between us. “I haven’t had friends in a long time.”

“That seems impossible,” I replied, not necessarily intending to say it out loud, but instantly affronted on her behalf. How could such a sweet, gentle soul not be surrounded by loyal friends at all times?

“It’s not a unique story among those of us who have come here.” Meera’s soothing voice was an instant balm to my irritation. “Only Astrid was actually beloved by the Hunters prior to leaving. The rest of us were outcasts. We’ve all angered the higher-ups in the Hunters and lost everyone we loved because of it.” She shrugged uncomfortably, and my muscles ached with the effort of not reaching for her. “In all honesty, it’s taken a little of the righteous wind out of my sails, coming here and realizing just how veryun-unique my experience was.”

“That doesn’t make it any less profound.”

A glimmer—the faintesthint—of a smile played around Meera’s mouth before her expression returned to its state of neutrality. “No, I suppose not. Not tome. Inconveniently, Inever developed humor or charm as coping mechanisms the way the others seem to have done.”

“You seem plenty charming to me. And life would be very dull if we were all the same. Though, I can relate in a sense. I always liked the idea of being funny, but the skill hasn’t manifested for me, unfortunately.”

“Oh good. Then neither of us will be the funny one in this friendship.”

“Or perhaps that means we both are?” I teased. There was that glimmer of a smile again, that temptinghintof what it could be.

Meera’s lips did tip up from time to time, but I couldn’t call it a real smile. Having watched the other ex-Hunters and observed life in the human realm, I knew that the eyes were a crucial component. I’d never seen Meera’seyessmile.

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