Thank you for waiting.

Chapter Thirteen

She considered Denden for a while. Flor couldn't imagine her wearing something like this; she was far too melancholy. But nonetheless, here it was. She found and put back on her own clothes, putting her new friend's clothes back on the shelf as if nothing had happened. She considering talking about this to her later but convinced herself that it might need time.

She sat down in one of the booths by the window, patiently waiting for someone to come pick her up. She put her elbows on the table, leaving her hands on her neck as she stared out the window. There were so many people it was nearly overwhelming. Flor couldn't help but wonder what each of their stories was, but as soon as she saw them, they were gone. And so many of them looked like Yenri. She, of course, knew that they weren't really Yenri, but they had the same face. Sometimes they had the same hair. One even wore clothes that seemed to hold a resemblance.

And that's when she saw him. She knew it was him – no one held himself the same way. It was a man, a few years older than herself in appearance, stark white hair, a morbidly prominent jawline, eyebrows so thick she couldn't see his eyes.

She stood up. "Ryo..." Her eyes sat wide. She ran to the doorway a few booths down and threw open the door, staring out. He was gone; she had no idea where he went. A part of her was tempted to run outside and chase him, but she hesitated. That couldn't have been a good idea.

Flor was right about to turn around and return to her booth, but then a familiar face appeared. It was that Ali boy, standing right outside the front door.

He asked her a question, but she didn't speak his language. He nodded, gesturing for her to come outside. She did so, a little confused. After clearing his throat, he opened his jacket and pulled out a small pill. Flor was heavily confused but didn't know what to say. He held it out. She took the pill, holding it up to her mouth, and he seemed to be nodding. So, she took a deep breath, popping it in.

"Did it work?" asked Ali.

Flor bit her lip, realizing that she suddenly understood what he was saying. "...Yes," she replied, her mouth making strange noises, "I do."

"Cool," he replied, a grin over his face. "I'm gonna head up to the island, you ready to do some translating?"

Her face was a bit tight. Her legs felt sick from standing so much, and her eyelids felt stiff and crust-like. That medication was still frying her cheeks, making it difficult to emote. "I would like to go home and rest," she said, finding that the wide mouth motions of his language made her face hurt even worse.

He shrugged. "You'll be fine. Trust me. You'll probably be sitting for most of the time anyway. Hey – check this out."

Flor put her back against the glass wall of the restaurant as Ali stepped back, nearly facing off the road. There were only a few pedestrians at this point, navigating their way back and forth along the sidewalk. Ali turned his head straight up, squatting down and then leaping into the air. The space around him turned bright white, as if he had exploded. Pedestrians stood back, silent, Flor being among them as she didn't have a chance to put together what was going on. Then, erupting from the top of the effect was a dragon. It was long, red, and wingless, slithering through the air like an enormous snake. It twisted along itself, its obsidian-like spines covering its back and spanning nearly its entire length. Finally, it twisted in on itself, hovering just above the sidewalk.

"Well?" he asked, "What do you think?"

"Hey!" shouted a man on the other side of its head, speaking Chitotzish, "I'm trying to walk here!"

"May you move a bit?" asked Flor, translating in his language.

He nodded, laying his head down on the sidewalk, his body still floating in the air as if they were underwater. "Hop on."