Starlight Veranda had been the last place that Nova's mom had taken her for her birthday, before she had been killed. Her mom had been poor, but she made a point to save money all year long in order to spoil Nova for her birthday. It was important to Aria that her daughter had at least one special day that the two of them could spend happily together.
Nova had intended to go there for her birthday this year too, but she was kind of working up to it. She wanted to go there more than anything, so that she could feel closer to her mom, but she was also scared to go there alone. Now that she didn't have to go there alone, the decision seemed easy.
The silence in the transport pod was thick and suffocating. Nova cleared her throat. "You don't have to worry. I'm not a weirdo or anything...well at least not any weirder than the next person...maybe," Nova mumbled awkwardly.
"Pfft!" Fortis tried to hold back a laugh, but as soon as she started, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She just laughed and laughed. It felt good to laugh, it had been such a long time since she had. Tears started to trickle down the sides of her face while she gasped for air.
Nova stared at Fortis with a bright red face in humiliation.
Fortis chuckled a little bit more and then grinned at Nova. "You're alright. So tell me, what's Starlight Veranda like and why did you choose to go there?"
Nova looked down into her lap and twiddled her thumbs. "Starlight Veranda is pretty important to me. You see, it was the last place my mom took me for my birthday...before she passed away. And well...It's my birthday again."
"It's your birthday today?"
"Yeah," said Nova.
"What's your name by the way?" said Fortis.
Nova paused for a moment, but gave her the only name she felt like she could, her mom's middle name. Aria had wanted to give Nova her middle name, but her dad hadn't allowed it. "Opal. My name's Opal."
"Well Opal, it's nice to officially meet you," Fortis said.
"Same," Nova said and then smiled.
Once they arrived at the Starlight Pavilion, they found a seat at a round white table near the dance floor. The Starlight Pavilion was outside, in a dome. Little magic lights floated through the air inside the dome, making it appear like fireflies or stars. In the center of the dome, there was a round stage where live music was being played and a wide clearing where people were dancing. Fortis sat down at a seat next to Nova and watched the couples dancing with a far away look on her face.
Nova pulled a small bottle out of her pocket and quickly poured the contents over Fortis's wrist.
Fortis bounced from being startled while quickly looking towards her wrist. However, right before her eyes, her wrist was rapidly healing.
"Sorry if this hurts, but it's necessary," Nova said while grabbing hold of Fortis's wrist and turning it into place; just as it was starting to mend.
Fortis sucked in some air, but didn't make any further noise. She was used to pain. That didn't mean she liked it, but she was used to it.
"That's pretty good stuff," Fortis said. She started bending her wrist experimentally with a pleased smile on her face. "Where did you get it? I could use some of that stuff."
"...Just from someone I know. She's a little different, but I love her like a mom. I'm sure that she loves me too...not that it'd be easy to get her to admit it," Nova said and then chuckled. "She gave me this bottle of healing liquid, because she was worried that I'd get hurt while she was gone," Nova said with a proud look on her face.
"That sounds important. You didn't need to use it on me," Fortis said.
Nova smiled. "It's fine, it's what I chose to do."
Fortis's face flushed slightly and then she looked down at the table. "Well, thank you then. It seems you've saved me more than once tonight." She awkwardly looked back over to the dance floor, trying to prevent Nova from seeing her heated face. "I'm not used to people helping me," she said quietly.
"Would you like to dance?" said Nova.
Fortis looked towards Nova with a surprised look on her face. "Dance?"
"...With me," said Nova. "I mean if it's too strange for you, you can obviously turn me down. I would completely understand. It's weird of me to ask, right? Just forget that I asked," Nova said with a bright red face.
Fortis blinked at Nova while her mind registered what she had said to her. She chuckled at Nova's cute backpedaling. Then she reached out her hand to cover Nova's flailing hand.
"I would love to," Fortis said.
Fortis took Nova's hand and led her to the dance floor. It was a bit awkward at first. Neither of them were used to dancing, but soon the awkwardness turned into laughter at their poor dancing skills.
"Do you have any more of that healing stuff? We may need some more to pour on our feet after this," Fortis said.
They both laughed and held hands as they walked back to their seats.
"This is a pretty place," Fortis said while looking up at the top of the dome. The sky was dark and from there you could see the sky filled with stars.
"It really is," Nova said while looking at the stars and then back at Fortis.
Their eyes met and a small sad smile appeared on Fortis's lips.
"If we never meet again, know that it's not your fault," said Fortis.
"What do you mean?" said Nova.
"Just...I had fun tonight, thank you for that." She chuckled again, but it sounded sad. "It's been such a very long time since I was truly happy like this. Looking up at the stars, sitting with you, it feels kind of like anything is possible," she said.
Nova frowned while watching Fortis , who had her face turned away. She reached over and touched Fortis's cheek. Fortis turned back towards Nova and their eyes met.
"If there's anything wrong, you can tell me. Maybe I can help?" Said Nova.
Fortis leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against Nova's.
Nova held still with a blush on her cheeks.
"You could think of that as a birthday kiss...if you want. I hope you don't mind. It was impulsive, but I still don't regret it. I'm happy that my first kiss was with you...instead of...someone else," Fortis said.
Nova frowned at her tone of voice. "What aren't you telling me?"
"It doesn't really matter. There's nothing that can be done about it. This is just the way my life is. But I'm still happy that I met you and was able to make new happy memories. I'll cherish the memories of tonight for as long as I'm able to live," said Fortis.
After that, Fortis got up to use the restroom, and never came back. Nova didn't know where she went, but assumed that she just went back home. As soon as Nova's head hit her pillow, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. She had lovely dreams about her wonderful birthday with Fortis, but when she woke up in the morning, Fortis was nowhere to be seen.