Starstorm

It is a few hours after meeting Raine that Yara finally finds some time alone, having been temporarily relieved of her duties as Raine heads to meet with her doctor for a checkup.

Her head is still spinning from the revelation, but now that it's happened, all she can think is of course, of course that's the reason Mrs. Rivyet is pursuing Kaya – for the sake of healing her daughter, her only heir.

It's so obvious now Yara wonders how she had never realized it.

But then again, both Mrs. Rivyet and Mr. Rivyet had been extremely careful about concealing Raine's presence from Kaya (and vice versa, it seems, as Raine doesn't know about the real reason they're on the airship either), so considering how Yara had been Kaya's personal attendant, it only makes sense that the knowledge of Raine's existence would be hidden from her as well.

But that only raises the question – why now? It's obvious they still don't trust Yara, and, considering Raine is the whole reason they're doing all of this, that makes her the largest weak point they have. Did they never consider the possibility that she might eliminate Raine to reduce one of Kaya's pursuers, or did they decide that the benefits outweigh the risks?

Yara frowns.

But what benefits?

Unless...

Had they figured out she had been snooping around, and gave her this task to prevent her from doing so?

And had they predicted that it would be more likely Yara would accept, and continue to stay without making a move towards Raine because it's the easiest to access information here, not just on them but on all of the other people after Kaya as well? The benefits of that do outweigh the benefits of eliminating just one of her pursuers, after all.

It sends a chill through her, to think that they could read her so well.

Well, no matter. Either way, she has to warn the others about this new development, considering she won't have as much time on her hands now that she has to deal with a new full-time job.

She reaches her room, closes the door with a silent 'click', draws the blinds and sits down on the bed again.

Taking deep breaths, her eyes closed, she pictures they're faces and reaches –

"What are you doing," she says flatly, staring down at Tam and Chia who appear to be crouching on the compartment floor, out of view of the frosted glass windows looking out onto the train car's aisle. There's blood on Chia's hands – doesn't seem to be her own, though – and the two of them are visibly tense, out of breath and –

"Get down already!" Tam hisses, recovering quickly from his surprise (props to him for getting used to her Realmwalking) and yanking her down to the floor as well.

"What are you doing," she repeats again, still deadpan.

"Hiding, obviously! What else does it look like?" he snaps, voice still lowered.

"From?" she blinks, unimpressed.

He gives her the rundown – two people, a man and a woman, dressed in travelers' clothes who had ambushed them in an empty train car and how they had escaped. Well, temporarily, anyway.

"Seems like Chia's unpredictability saved the two of you this time," Yara notes.

"That was my favorite knife," Chia laments mournfully. Tam shoots her an incredulous look.

"You left it in his leg?"

"Well, what else could I do? You know, considering the heat of the moment and all that," she says defensively. "Though, now that I think about it, maybe it was a bad choice, considering that was also my last knife."