CHAPTER 24
WHAT SOFíA SEES
The field station emptied slowly after the briefing.
Not because anyone had been ordered to leave.
Because nobody knew what else to do.
People had spent the morning listening to scientists disagree in careful language and then translating that language into ordinary fear on the walk home.
Elena understood the impulse.
She had done the same thing herself.
She sat at the central terminal with three windows open.
Deformation.
Gas flux.
Seismic activity.
She had been staring at the same cluster of readings for nearly twenty minutes.
None of them had changed.
She refreshed the data anyway.
Again.
Nothing.
"You're going to break it."
Elena looked up.
Sofía stood across the room holding two coffees.
"I'm not touching anything."
"That's not what I meant."
Sofía put one cup beside Elena.
Elena glanced at it.
"Thanks."
Sofía didn't leave.
Elena knew that was a problem.
"What?"
Sofía folded her arms.
"You've been avoiding Naia."
Elena's fingers stopped above the keyboard.
"I'm working."
"You're always working."
"There's a lot happening."
"That's not an answer either."
Elena looked back at the monitor.
Sofía waited.
The silence stretched.
Finally Elena said, "We're professionals."
Sofía gave her a look.
"That's what you're going with?"
"What else should I say?"
"The truth would be interesting."
Elena's jaw tightened.
She returned to the data.
"There's nothing to discuss."
"Really?"
"Really."
Sofía pulled out the chair opposite her.
"Then why haven't you looked at her once since the briefing?"
Elena said nothing.
Sofía leaned forward.
"Elena."
"I'm fine."
"No."
The answer was immediate.
"You aren't."
Elena finally looked at her.
Sofía's expression wasn't judgmental.
That somehow made it worse.
"You're not protecting the data," Sofía said quietly. "You're protecting yourself."
Elena looked away.
The sentence landed with uncomfortable precision.
Outside, rainwater still ran through the gutters from the previous storm.
The mountain was hidden behind low cloud.
Elena rubbed her forehead.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
"I can't."
"You can try."
Elena stared at the screen.
For several seconds, she couldn't speak.
Then she closed the data windows.
The graphs disappeared.
The room suddenly felt too quiet.
"My assignment has an end date."
Sofía's expression changed.
"What?"
"The institute funding."
Elena opened the message again.
"The current field cycle ends soon. My deployment ends with it unless they approve another funding period."
Sofía looked at the screen.
"How soon?"
"Not long."
"And they haven't told you whether they'll renew it?"
"No."
Sofía sat back.
"So you kissed her."
Elena closed her eyes.
"Yes."
"And then found out you might have to leave."
"I already knew there was an end date."
"That's not what I asked."
Elena looked at her.
"I knew it intellectually."
Sofía waited.
"But after the shelter..." Elena stopped.
The memory came back with embarrassing clarity.
Naia beside her.
The warmth.
The fear.
Her own voice saying I'm afraid of wanting you.
Elena swallowed.
"After that, the date became real."
Sofía's voice softened.
"And you're afraid."
Elena nodded.
"I don't know what happens when I want someone I may have to leave."
She looked down at her hands.
"I've done this before."
Sofía knew enough not to ask.
"Different person?"
"Different circumstances."
"But same ending?"
Elena didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
She looked toward the door.
Naia wasn't there.
Of course she wasn't.
Elena had made sure of that.
"I don't want to start something I can't stay for."
Sofía was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "That's not the same as knowing you have to leave."
Elena looked at her.
"I might."
"You might."
Sofía emphasized the words.
"You don't know."
"No."
"So you've already decided for both of you."
Elena frowned.
"I haven't decided anything."
"You've decided not to tell her."
Elena looked away.
"Because I don't want her waiting for something I can't promise."
Sofía shook her head.
"Maybe she doesn't need a promise."
"What does she need?"
"To know why you disappeared."
Elena flinched.
"I didn't disappear."
"You became impossible to reach."
Elena looked at the empty doorway.
She knew Sofía was right.
That didn't make it easier.
"I thought if I kept things professional, I could keep this from becoming more complicated."
Sofía smiled sadly.
"How's that working?"
Elena almost laughed.
"Badly."
"Good."
Elena looked at her.
Sofía shrugged.
"I'm not saying the situation is good. I'm saying at least you're finally admitting what it is."
Elena stared at the message from the institute.
The end date sat there unchanged.
A simple line of text.
Something administrative.
Something capable of rearranging an entire life.
"What if she wants something permanent?"
Sofía answered carefully.
"What if she doesn't?"
Elena had no response.
Sofía stood.
"You're allowed to be afraid."
Elena looked up.
"But don't turn fear into a decision she didn't make."
Then Sofía picked up her coffee and walked away.
At the doorway, she stopped.
"Talk to her."
Elena stared at the screen.
She wanted to.
God, she wanted to.
But wanting had become the very thing she was afraid of.
And for the first time, Elena understood that the problem wasn't that she might have to leave Kaimana.
The problem was that, somewhere between the mountain and the shelter, she had found someone she wanted to come back to.