Hedi stretched with lazy ease, trying to slip out of Selina’s arms; on the verge of escape, an irresistible pull reeled her back like a tide reclaiming a shell.

The room dimmed beneath a lead-gray blur, like charcoal smeared over fogged glass. Hedi tipped her face up and met Selina’s downward gaze, two ripples colliding on a still pond.

Surprise flickered first in Hedi’s chest, then motion followed. Her hand rose and skimmed Selina’s jaw, a silent invite, light as a breeze stroking petals.

Selina kissed her, playful and light, like a woodpecker tapping bark—tap tap, tap tap—rhythms drummed into the moment. Hedi laughed despite herself and leaned in, a moth seeking warmth.

As the air grew warm and close, the Holy Maiden coughed, a dull, cask-deep sound. Her left foot tapped the floor, a soft stomp that still snapped their cocoon like a taut thread.

Embarrassment surged like a white cavalry through Hedi’s heart. Her smooth cheeks flared rosy, glossy as glazed porcelain. “Uh... forgot there’s someone else here...” she murmured.

Words couldn’t carry it, so motion did. She wiped the trace from her lips and idly dabbed it onto the carpet, as if brushing dust off a sleeve—just a minor daily interlude.

“Sacred Cathedral—” The Holy Maiden began, then noticed Selina’s smug, spring-breeze smile. She turned her back and stared at the rain, a gray scroll unfurling beyond the glass.

“Holy ground. I know.” Hedi picked up the thread. Her mind had surfaced, yet her body ached everywhere, like a field after hail. “Hss... tell me what happened after I blacked out...”

“Didn’t the crybaby already tell you?”

“Only the big strokes. The Dark Realm in Naghtown—”

“That’s enough,” the Holy Maiden cut in. “If you can still do that, you don’t need rest. The sheriff will be here with questions.”

Hedi nodded and let silence settle like ash.

Then the Holy Maiden half turned. A rare, almost strange light set in her eyes, like regret for a withered petal crushed under a heel. She looked deep into Hedi.

Hedi met the look and felt unseen. The lamplight showed her tiny reflection in that pupil, yet the focus seemed to pass through her and circle back to the Holy Maiden’s core.

“I want to ask you a... not-quite question,” the Holy Maiden said, face angling toward the window, where rain crawled like silver ants. “Do you miss the past?”

“The Sacred Cathedral?”

“Mm.”

The feeling rose first; the words came after. “Sometimes, I do.”

“Truth? Or are you humoring me because I’m the Holy Maiden here?”

“Because of Alina Cheryl.”

A pause, thin as a paper cut. “And that one has anything to do with it?”

“I dreamed of her.”

“What dream?”

Hedi toyed with a lock at her temple, like twirling a blade of grass. “She told me the secret of our first arrival as humans.”

“At the start, we’re only a heavy pink lump, built to cry and cry. Then a name is given, and everything shifts in quiet.”

“Mind and memory are born. A name starts a person’s story, and it’s the line carved at the end on a tombstone.”

“You can even recite it.”

“Not word for word. I polished it.” Hedi shrugged, a ripple over still water. “Dreams fade as you wake.”

“In waking life, did she ever talk with you about names?”

“If you mean actual memories... I don’t remember. The Cheryl I recall... wouldn’t say something that philosophical.”

“Heh.”

“What?”

The Holy Maiden shook her head. “So your dream was about names?”

“It kept jumping from scene to scene, a messy reel I can’t narrate.”

“Alright.”

Hedi pouted, a smile tugging at one corner. “You’re not Cheryl, are you?”

“Do I look like her?” The answer came without thinking; she even turned, her gaze sharp as a blade. “Like that mischievous, trouble-prone brat who kept getting grounded?!”

“Don’t be mean to the Professor!” Selina sprang in front of Hedi like a small shield. “You impostor!”

“Not alike at all,” Hedi said, and drew Selina closer with a tide-pull of her hand.

“Out,” the Holy Maiden said, cool as rain. She held still as a statue until the door clicked shut, eyes on clouds clotted like solid islands.

In the corridor, the first cold since waking bit Hedi. Without four walls, the wind hunted with knives and drove its chill straight into her.

“Hss... why are my clothes soaked?” she muttered. She glanced at Selina; her clothes hung wet too. The flash of that earlier attitude returned. “Did something happen between you and her?”

“Me and who?”

“The Holy Maiden.”

Confusion crossed Selina’s face; then shadow; then a smug curl like a cat’s tail. “An impostor deserves that treatment!”

“Focus... the point.”

“She poked at me! Said you’d drop me like you dropped the Sacred Cathedral! Said you don’t even like me! You’re only sticking around so I won’t cry!”

Hedi worried her lower lip, thoughts pricking like thorns. “Just that?”

“Not just that! Can you imagine how mad I was?”

“I can.”

A small silence. Then Selina grumbled, “I called her an impostor. She said you’re not sincere. And then... we kept poking each other.”

“Wow.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Hedi cleared her throat, heat first, then humor. “Nothing... I’m just curious what you two look like when you fight.”

“I did it for you!” Selina pointed at her face, eyes still wet like dew. “Look! I cried!”

“Come on. Think it through. I’m not abandoning you.”

“Mm...”

Hedi shot her a glance, the words soft as felt. “We’ve already done everything. You think I’d let you touch me for nothing and then walk?”

“I want more!”

“Don’t push it.”

Selina’s expression dimmed, a scolded pup with its ears down.

“Hey—” Hedi sighed, indulgence warm as a shawl. “The Sacred Cathedral is holy ground.”

“You did it right in front of the Holy Maiden—”

“First, I wasn’t fully awake. Second, I never agreed.”

“You touched my face! Right before you do that, you always nuzzle me like a kitten!”

Hedi shook her head, the denial crisp. “Your memory’s scrambled.”

“Meow, meow!” Selina pressed on, “Just like a courting kitten!”

“Selena Viola—” Hedi pointed her index finger at her like a drawn wand. “Watch it, or I’ll smack you.”