CHAPTER 25
WHAT THE DATA CAN’T HOLD
Elena found Naia at the Overlook just before sunset.
She had checked the guide station first.
Then the lower trail.
Then the village.
Naia wasn't at any of them.
She should have known.
The Overlook was where Naia went when she needed to see the mountain without being asked to explain what she saw.
Elena stopped several feet behind her.
"Naia."
Naia turned.
For a moment, neither spoke.
The last few days stood between them.
The shelter.
The kiss.
The silence afterward.
The distance.
Naia looked back toward the volcano.
"What do you need?"
The question was polite.
Professional.
It hurt more than Elena expected.
"I need to tell you something."
Naia waited.
Elena walked closer.
"My assignment has an end date."
Naia's expression didn't change.
"What?"
"The institute funding cycle."
Elena took out her phone and opened the message.
"They confirmed it. My current field deployment ends with this funding period. Unless they approve a continuation, I leave Kaimana."
Naia looked at the screen.
Then at Elena.
"How long?"
"Not long."
Naia nodded once.
The answer seemed to settle somewhere inside her.
"So that's why."
Elena swallowed.
"Yes."
"You weren't pulling away because of the kiss."
"No."
"Because of me?"
"No."
Naia looked away.
A breath left her slowly.
Elena realized she'd been holding her own.
"I should have told you."
"Yes."
"I was afraid."
Naia gave a small, humorless smile.
"Of leaving?"
"Of wanting something I might have to leave."
Naia looked back at her.
"I thought you regretted it."
"I don't."
The answer came immediately.
Too immediately to soften.
Naia's eyes searched hers.
Elena stepped closer.
"I regret hiding the reason."
The wind moved through the grass around them.
Far below, the village lights had begun to appear.
Behind the mountain, the last daylight caught the upper edge of the dome.
Naia folded her arms.
"So what happens now?"
"I don't know."
It was the hardest sentence Elena had said all week.
Naia studied her.
"You don't have a plan."
"No."
"That's new."
Elena almost smiled.
"I know."
Naia looked toward the volcano.
"You're still leaving?"
"Unless something changes."
"And if it does?"
Elena hesitated.
"I don't know."
Naia nodded.
The answer wasn't satisfying.
But it was honest.
"I don't want you to promise me something you can't promise."
Elena looked at her.
"I can't."
"I know."
Naia's voice softened.
"But I also don't want you deciding for me that uncertainty means I shouldn't want this."
Elena felt something in her chest loosen.
"Are you saying you still want this?"
Naia looked at her.
"You're a scientist."
"I am."
"Then look at the evidence."
Elena laughed softly.
It was the first easy laugh they'd shared in days.
Naia smiled.
Then the smile faded.
She stepped closer.
"I was hurt."
"I know."
"I thought I'd imagined everything."
"You didn't."
"I know that now."
They stood close enough that Elena could feel the warmth of her.
No storm.
No shelter.
No excuse.
Just the two of them beneath the open sky.
Elena reached for Naia's hand.
This time, neither of them hesitated.
Their fingers intertwined.
Naia looked down at their hands.
Then back at Elena.
"We don't know how long we have."
"No."
"We don't know what happens after."
"No."
Naia's thumb moved once across Elena's knuckles.
"But we're here."
Elena nodded.
"We're here."
That was enough.
For now.
She leaned forward.
Naia met her halfway.
The second kiss was different.
There was no surprise in it.
No accident.
No fear disguised as uncertainty.
Elena knew exactly what she was choosing.
So did Naia.
Their lips met slowly, deliberately, and stayed there.
Naia's free hand settled lightly against Elena's shoulder.
Elena touched her cheek.
The kiss deepened with the confidence of something finally acknowledged rather than discovered.
When they separated, they stayed close.
Foreheads almost touching.
Naia breathed out.
"Still scared?"
"Very."
Naia smiled.
"Good."
Elena laughed softly.
"You?"
"Also."
They remained there as the evening settled around them.
Neither pretended the future had become certain.
It hadn't.
The institute still had its funding cycle.
The mountain still had its instability.
The exclusion zone would likely expand again.
Elena might still have to leave.
But uncertainty was no longer being used as a reason to pretend nothing mattered.
The radio on Naia's belt crackled.
She reached for it.
"Naia."
Sofía's voice came through.
"New exclusion-zone recommendation just came in. Ilava wants the upper northeast access closed immediately."
Naia looked toward the mountain.
"Understood."
She released the radio.
Elena's eyes followed hers.
"Station Delta."
"Yes."
The moment changed.
Not disappeared.
Changed.
The mountain demanded their attention again.
Naia squeezed Elena's hand once before letting go.
"Come on."
Elena nodded.
They started down from the Overlook together.
Not knowing how long the path would remain open.
Not knowing where Elena would be months from now.
Not knowing what the mountain would demand next.
But this time, neither of them was pretending uncertainty meant absence.
Some things could be measured.
Some things could be predicted.
Some things required evidence.
And some things, Elena was beginning to understand, could only be chosen.