[Lauchenoiria]

Lake Salia, Eiria

Nelichē sat on the wall, sunglasses perched on her nose as she swung her feet, waiting for her former colleague to be released. A small device in her ear allowed her to hear her other former colleague, Veronica Penners, who was back in Kerlile. Veronica was watching them from hacked CCTV cameras, to check nobody tried to snatch her up as she waited for Riley Nelson.

“She’s on her way now,” Veronica reported through the link. “Camera 44.”

Nelichē stood up, slinging the strap of her bag over her shoulder and pushing the sunglasses on top of her head as she sauntered gracefully over the small strip of grass in the middle of the suburban street, looking confident and making a beeline for the location that Veronica had informed her of. They’d numbered the cameras in the vicinity in preparation, not that it was particularly necessary. She didn’t anticipate trouble.

Riley Nelson was standing outside a corner shop, staring up at the sign in the manner of someone who had no idea what to do next. A CCTV camera pointed outwards from the shop above the ATM attached, which will be where Veronica saw her. Nelichē stopped across the street and surveyed her former classmate. She looked well, a little unsteady but unharmed and sufficiently fed. Nelichē was relieved. She approached.

“Welcome back to freedom, Miss Nelson,” Nelichē said casually. The other Aurora jumped.

“Rhona? You’re alive!” Riley Nelson grinned widely and hugged the other Aurora. “Given everything I’d heard, I feared the worst. But how are you here? Is it safe?”

“Relatively,” Nelichē replied, taking Riley’s arm and leading her away from the shop and its CCTV camera. They’d already calculated the safest location to talk, a small suburban dog walker’s park a few streets away. “I would rather not remain in this country any longer than necessary, however.”

“Understandable. Did Kerlile send you? What happened in Xiomera?”

“I came of my own volition, and that’s a long story,” Nelichē chuckled. “The TLDR is that Yauhmi made a deal with Kerlile that Xiomera-assigneds could choose to go home or remain in Xiomera using their cover identities but for real this time. Then there was a civil war, Yauhmi ended up being tortured, some of our kind helped her and now one of us is a Huenyan general.”

“I… thought I was only in prison for a year?” Riley asked, eyes jokingly wide. The two Auroras paused for a second, looking at each other, then burst out laughing.

“Well, you know what they say about politics!” Nelichē replied. “Anyways, I chose to return to Kerlile and there are a few of us back there from all over, including Renee. She wanted to come and meet you, but she was denied an exit permit because of some hassle with the Lauchenoirian Prime Minister.”

Riley stopped. “I thought you came to bring me back to Kerlile?”

“I did,” Nelichē said, turning to grin. “All will be well again, and we’ll be safe.”

“Safe?” Riley folded her arms, spreading her feet to indicate she wasn’t planning to move another step until this was resolved. “In Kerlile? After we’ve failed in our duties and been in enemy custody long enough to have told them something? Pull the other one, Rhona.”

“I prefer Nelichē now, actually, and yes. There was a blanket amnesty for all members of the Aurora Programme who breached any law of Kerlile during their time abroad. You’ll be perfectly fine, we’ve got a room for you all ready, and the reform is real this time.”

“Then why was Renee denied an exit permit?”

“Oh, they had her working as a double agent for Alvarez for a while, but it, well, kind of backfired and they got annoyed at her for being too close to some Lauchenoirian activist types. It’s fine, she’s not in prison, they just don’t want her going back to Lauchenoiria.”

“Rhona… Nelichē…” Riley sighed, shaking her head. “Do you honestly believe that? I mean, do you honestly believe this ‘amnesty’ is anything more than a trick?”

“I do, genuinely. Everything is going to change now!”

“Everything is going to change? Nelichē, we’re Kerlians. Things don’t change, not to that extent. Not unless it’s part of some endgame we don’t understand. If they’ve already found an excuse to ban Renee from leaving, what’s to stop them finding the same for us, one by one, until it’s too late and we’re all trapped? You were assigned to Xiomera, you studied their culture. Do you really think it’s any different for us? When we fail, we’re expected to fall on our own swords just the same.”

“Did they hurt you?” Nelichē asked quietly. “The Eirians?”

“What? No. Look, I believe that you’re telling the truth as well as you know it, but if what you’ve told me is true, you’ve become woefully naïve. I’m happy for you that Yauhmi spared you, but you can’t expect the same compassion from everyone. I’ve got two weeks to either leave Eiria or take a job with them, and I don’t want to do the latter. Until I know more, I don’t feel safe entering Kerlile again. So, will you help me, or not?”

Nelichē sighed, then nodded. She linked arms with Riley again, and began pulling her down the pavement a little further. “You need time, I get that. We can go to Huenya, we’ll be safe there, and it’s not so far from here. And you’ll see, in time, that Kerlile truly has changed. I know it’s hard to believe, I know the Eirians will have told you otherwise, but when you see, you’ll be amazed. Now, come on, I’ve got us a hotel room, we can work things out from there.”