Kimmy noticed Yunera before she knocked.
She was sitting on the edge of her bed, following the people moving through the corridor outside without really paying attention to any of them. Most were System personnel. Their presences passed one after another in the same even way they always did.
Then one of them came up the stairs too quickly, stopped outside her door, and stayed there for a second as if deciding something.
Kimmy smiled. "It’s open."
The door swung inward.
"You could at least pretend you didn’t know."
"Why would I?"
Yunera clicked her tongue and walked in. Something heavy dropped beside the door, a bag from the sound of it, then she sat down next to Kimmy hard enough to make the bed creak.
"When did you come back?"
"Last night. It was late, so I didn’t wake you."
"You could have."
"And listen to you complain about it all morning? No, thank you."
Kimmy turned toward her.
It was Yunera. The same voice, same habit of pulling one leg up onto the bed as if she owned it. But something about her presence was different.
Before, it had always been a little restless. It kept shifting even when Yunera sat still, like someone tapping their foot without realizing it.
Now it didn’t.
Kimmy waited, half expecting it to start again, but it did not.
"What?" Yunera asked. "Checking me out again?"
"Yes. Your aura, it’s a little different."
"It should be," Yunera said. "I’ve been training."
Kimmy hummed and let it go. If it was something important, Yunera would say it eventually. If it wasn’t, then asking right away would only make her defensive.
"How long are you staying?"
"A while." Yunera leaned back on her hands. "There’s not much for me to do at the station right now. The doctor disappeared into that Tech Center and hasn’t returned, and sooo... I’ve mostly been training on my own."
"Good." Kimmy stood and reached for her coat. "I’m going to see Hans. Come with me. There’s somewhere I want to stop first."
"Where?"
"A park."
Yunera was quiet for a moment. "A park. Here?"
"Near the old industrial blocks. Hans found it."
"Well." Kimmy fastened the last button. "He got lost and found it. But he tried to take credit for it."
Yunera laughed through her nose. "That sounds about right."
They left the building together. The morning was cool, and the Main Base was already busy.
Utility trucks moved between the facilities, someone shouted a set of numbers across a loading area, and somewhere farther east, an aircraft was warming up its engines.
Kimmy let her awareness spread ahead of her. The paths were easy enough by now.
She knew where the curbs were, where the road dipped near the motor pool, and where the trucks liked to cut the corner too closely.
Yunera still walked half a step to her left anyway.
"He’s not at the park, is he?"
"No." Kimmy lowered her head. "He’s somewhere deeper in the base, tending to his... army."
Yunera clicked her tongue. "That man, does he not care for you at all?"
Kimmy turned toward her and smiled. "Sister, you don’t have to be so worked up. I can understand why he would be so busy."
"Hmph. I better see him working his ass off. If not..."
Kimmy didn’t listen to the rest of Yunera’s words.
They passed the last of the storage buildings and turned onto the wider road leading toward the perimeter.
As they got closer to the outer gate, Kimmy’s awareness touched something else entirely.
There were a lot of people around. They gathered beyond the perimeter in long, uneven lines.
Their presences were all different from one another: some loud, some small and tight, most of them nervous in a way she could feel even from this distance.
The two women slowed down.
"Did you notice something, sister?" Yunera leaned over. "Oh, how come there are so many people here?"
"You don’t know?"
"I only came back last night. How would I know?"
"Oh, Hans is recruiting people to join his army."
"He’s recruiting ordinary people now?" Yunera asked. "Since when?"
Kimmy didn’t answer immediately.
Hans told her that she would be part of what he was building. She spent much of the past few days thinking about what that meant.
She still wasn’t sure Hans understood how seriously she took that answer. Before Yunera could ask again, Kimmy’s attention shifted toward four people near the side fence.
"Four people near the fence," Kimmy said.
They stood apart from the lines, near the fence along the side of the intake yard.
Yunera looked over. "Kids. Teenagers."
They weren’t waiting in line but were running.
Kimmy followed them along the fence: out to the corner post, around it, and back. One of them always fell a few steps behind, and one always pushed ahead.
The order kept changing.
At the far end they stopped. She heard hands hit the concrete almost at once, then breathing in short, uneven counts. Push-ups.
"Four kids doing laps," Yunera said quietly. "And now they’re doing push-ups. Did Hans even allow this?"
"Perhaps not."
Yunera watched them finish another set.
The girl stopped first, breathing heavily. One of the boys dropped out a few seconds later, while the other two lasted a little longer before stopping as well.
"They’re going to exhaust themselves before anyone even tests them," Yunera said.
Kimmy tilted her head. "You sound like you know what you’re talking about."
"I’ve spent the past few days doing exactly this."
"Running beside fences?"
"Training."
Kimmy smiled.
Yunera ignored her and kept watching.
The four teenagers rested for less than a minute before one of the boys pushed himself upright again.
"Again."
The others complained, but they followed him.
Yunera made a small sound.
"They’re serious."
"About joining? Aren’t they just kids?"
"About proving they can. As kids."
Kimmy turned her attention back toward the intake yard.
More than a thousand people applied.
Hans was opening what he was building to ordinary people now.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the edge of her coat.
Part of it.
She still remembered exactly how he said those words to her.
Yunera’s attention shifted toward her.
"You’re thinking about him again."
Kimmy immediately frowned. "I am not."
"You are."
"Sister."
Yunera started walking again.
"Come on. You wanted to see your park before finding him."
Kimmy followed after her.
Behind them, the four teenagers started another lap.
The park wasn’t far from the intake yard.
Yunera slowed as soon as the trees came into view.
"Huh."
Kimmy smiled. "What?"
"I didn’t expect you to be serious. There really is a new park here."
They left the wider road and followed the path between the restored buildings.
The place was quieter than the rest of Main Base. Trucks could still be heard farther away, and aircraft occasionally passed somewhere overhead, but the trees softened most of it.
Kimmy didn’t need Yunera to guide her. She already knew the path.
Where the first bench sat. Where one of the roots pushed slightly against the pavement. Where the younger trees ended and the older ones began.
"You’ve been here a lot, haven’t you, sister?"
"Only once. With Hans."
"Ah."
Yunera made an amused sound.
"Don’t say it like that."
"Like what?"
Kimmy ignored her and continued toward the same bench she and Hans used before.
Yunera followed and sat beside her.
For a while, neither of them said anything.
Kimmy let her awareness move through the park again.
The trees, paths and empty spaces fit together without requiring as much concentration as before.
Then her thoughts returned to the intake yard. To all those people waiting outside. And to Hans.
"Sister."
"Hmm?"
"If someone told you that you would become part of everything they were building... what would you think?"
Yunera slowly turned toward her.
"That depends."
"On what?"
"Who said it?"
Kimmy’s lips tightened.
A second passed. Then Yunera laughed.
"Sister!"
"I’m sorry." Yunera covered her mouth, but it did very little to hide her amusement. "Hans said that to you?"
Kimmy turned away.
"He said I would be part of what he was building."
"And you’ve been thinking about that for days?"
"It is not something you answer carelessly."
That made Yunera’s laughter fade. Kimmy rested both hands together on her lap.
"Where I came from, becoming permanently tied to another person’s household, their responsibilities, their people..." She hesitated. "It carries a certain meaning."
Yunera went quiet for a moment. "Uh-huh."
Kimmy lowered her head.
Yunera made a small sound, then stopped herself from saying whatever came next.
"It’s hard, but I guess I can do it. No, I have to do it."
Kimmy muttered under her breath, not caring whether Yunera caught it or not.
"Sister, I’ve decided," she stood up. "Let’s go."
"Where to now?"
"To where Hans is."