My eyes cracked open a few days later. Sunlight poured into the room, turning it golden. Eydis was still asleep, her hair thrown every which way across her pillow, her mouth open. 

After the cake eaten under candlelight, we went back to normal. As if nothing went wrong to begin with. That was a good thing, because I couldn't be without her company for any longer. 

My toes curled as I stretched. I debated about moving but decided it wouldn't hurt to lay in bed for another minute.

It was the only free day I had before the event with Ezra. If I was going to find something to wear, today was the day. 

I couldn't go alone. I trusted Eydis' fashion more than I would ever trust mine. But the way she slightly snored, I did not want to disturb her. She had been so tired lately, often missing her alarm. 

Eydis turned and peeked at me through her long eyelashes. She smiled a sleepy smile. "Morning." 

"Want to help me pick out a dress?"

She smiled widely. All signs of sleep vanished in a flash. She looked awake, alive. "Always game with shopping but what is the special occasion?" 

"I got invited to attend a gala with Ezra and his family." 

Her smile suddenly dropped. "He asked you?" 

I nodded. Her sudden shift in mood was concerning. I knew she didn't like him, but I didn't understand why. Ezra seemed nice.

"Well, I guess I don't have anything else going on today. Sure." 

I smiled at the thought of her spending time with me. It warmed my soul and give me enough strength to leave bed. I wanted to spend every free day with her. When we were together the sun shined a little brighter, the birds chirped a little louder. Everything in the world seemed better, brighter, fuller.  

"Good. I'm trusting you to point me in the right direction for fashion." 

"I can do at least that. You need all the help you can get. I suppose they wore bags in Hell." 

She wasn't too far off. Fashion here and fashion in Hell were vastly different. In Hell people were loose clothes of neutral colors. It was as if they wanted to blend in with nature, but here, they wanted to stand out, to grab attention. 

She was the first to get up from her bed. "Well, let's get going. I'm guessing this will take all day." There was a lack of enthusiasm in her voice. For a second I debated about recalling the invite.

_______________________

As we walked down the dorm stairs, Eydis stuffed her hands into her pocket. "Oh, I checked the mail again, still nothing."

My heart broke. Nearly two months had past and still no letter from Kol. I thought I would have at least one letter from him. What happened to his promise about writing? Did he forget about me already? Happy I was gone. He was surely freer without me. The thought caused my throat to tighten.

"Maybe the mail is delayed," Eydis added as she placed her hand my shoulder. 

"Maybe," I chocked out, hoping she didn't catch the pain in my voice. I sniffled any emotion and stood a little straighter. What was done was done, there was no use in fretting about it. 

"You can write him if you want. I can take you to the mail room to send it out. If you're not hearing from him, maybe he should hear from you." 

The thought of writing to him circled my mind for a few days now. I should. I shouldn't have waited this long, but I had been busy. It slipped my mind when I was training nearly from sun up to sun down. 

"I would like that." 

She smiled as we stepped outside. I locked eyes with Ari who walked down the sidewalk with a group of his friends who I did not recognize. I waved at Ari who returned the wave. 

"She's gone," he called out as he walked closer towards us. "Constance is not coming back." 

I rose my eyebrows. Her time wasn't up. There were still a few months left on her contract. We all knew she was struggling but was it really enough to kick her out early? 

"Hopefully the rink will be more friendly without her." He sighed then looked towards the girl dorms as if making sure she wasn't around. 

Constance wasn't nice. She wasn't nice to many. It was hard to like her. But I knew how much skating meant to her; she didn't want to leave early.  

"Good. Constance was a Slag," Eydis pipped in. 

Slag was another one of those Motherwealth words that I still didn't know the meaning too. Eydis told me once, but I was a little too embarrassed to ask again. There were so many swears that I couldn't keep track of them.

"She was a bit much," Ari said with a frown. "You should be happy she's gone." 

But the thing was, I didn't think I was. I didn't want anything ill of her. Even if she was difficult, she deserved to be here, just like I did.

"Well anyhow, I have to go, one day off and we have to live it up! See you around Telvi and Eydis," Ari said, running off with his friends.

"Well look at that, your biggest hater is gone," Eydis said as we walked towards the gate. She glanced at me before continuing. "What? You don't like that?" 

I shook my head. "She still had a few months left." 

"Well, maybe she improved as much as she could. You know some people tap out at a certain level." 

"Then where did she go?" 

Eydis shrugged as we walked down the road. "Maybe on tour? That's normally what happens to the figure skaters. I think they send most to tour the Commonwealths. I remember they brought figure skaters to my village once. They used an old building and froze it up just so they could sport the talent."

"I don't remember any talent coming to Hell." 

"Honestly, I think that's because Hell is forgettable. But after meeting you, I'll never forget about Hell."

My cheeks were turning red again. I swear, anything from her was enough to turn them bright red.  

"Wait!" Eydis yelled, pulling me back, just in time to avoid being clipped by a speeding car. 

My heart raced as I watched it speed out of sight. That was close. That car came out of nowhere. 

Eydis' face turned red. She shouted towards the direction of the car, but for what reason? It's not like the car would stop. It was already far from us. 

"Walter, Tevli. Sometimes I hate this place." 

My hair stood on end. That was loud enough that someone could hear. My only hope was that no one did. The street was empty, but my eyes flickered to a camera on the side of a building. I wondered if they heard that.

She shrugged as she looked at the camera too. "At least Solano people are more decent. No one would try to hit someone and speed off."

"Shhhh," I hushed. Even I had heard rumors, all the way in Hell, of what they did with outspoken people.  

"Or what? What are they doing to do, Telvi? They need my math skills. It's not like they will kick me out." She chuckled. 

"They took Constance." 

"That's different. She tapped out on her skills." 

I didn't see it as different. Eydis could tap out on her skills at some point. If she was so vocal, they might take her away sooner than was planned. 

"Look, I'm leaving at some point soon. Might as well speak my mind." 

Eydis could be bold, but this felt too daring. Maybe her poor mood from the dorm was allowing her to be more brash. It was dangerous.

"Don't give me that look, Telvi." Eydis sighed as we walked into a small store.

"Hello, can I help you with anything?" a man asked from behind the counter. 

clothes, all bright colors, all sparkled under the store lighting. This store was less packed than others I had been to. Instead, clothes were tastefully hung on nearly empty racks allowing the viewer to truly see their beauty. 

"We're looking for.... ah, found them," Eydis said as she walked towards a rack full of sparkly long dresses. 

"Call me if you need a different size." 

"Oh, that won't be necessary. Telvi is the Motherwealth's ideal size." 

I shifted my weight as I felt his eyes on me. It was nothing to be proud of. People were starving in Hell, not by intention to get to my size. I was starving by intention. All for the stupid weight chart Irena gave me. Each week another thing was cut from my diet. How much smaller could I get? She was clearly trying to find out. 

Eydis pulled out a blue dress. It fluttered around on the rack, making glittering small rainbows on the floor. "How about this?"

I bit my lip as I looked at the dress. That looked too flashy for me. It was one thing to wear something like this for skating, but a party? That would draw too much attention. 

Eydis twirled around the dress. A grin on her face. "You want to make a statement. You want to be bold. Make those Motherwealth people jealous. Show them that us Commonwealth people aren't poor uglys." She shot a look towards the man behind the counter then handed me the dress. 

The man quickly looked down at his hologram, although he looked uninterested in it. 

"Go." Eydis shooed me with her hands. 

The dress felt heavy in my hands. "I don't know about this one."

"Oh please. It will look stunning on you and the blue is like the ice. It's perfect." She pushed me into a changing room before I had time to put it back on the rack. 

There was no use in convincing her otherwise. So, with a sigh, I changed into the dress as quick as I could, hoping this moment would end. As I zipped it up, I frowned, looking at my reflection. It was skintight, much like a skating dress. However, this was much longer than my skating dress. 

Even though I had the length to protect me, I felt more exposed. I could hide behind my skating, but at the party, nothing was there to hide behind. If I wore this, I would be seen.

"Telvi, let's see it. I'm waiting here," Eydis complained. 

I held my head held high, walking out of the dressing room, hoping she would hate it just as much as I did. "You don't think it's too much?" I asked as I pulled on the tulle around my shoulder. 

She smiled as she shook her head. "Never. Oh Telvi, you look absolutely beautiful in it. Breath taking."

My cheeks turned hot as she eyed me from head to toe. No one had told me I looked breath taking. Did she really mean it? 

"You have to buy it. This dress is for you."

"I don't know. It looks expensive."

She rolled her eyes. "Let's see how much money you got before you shoot this down. You probably have a nice chunk in your account. And if you fall short, I'll cover the rest." She took my metal chain around my wrist and ran to the counter to see my account balance.  

The man placed my chain on his counter and numbers popped off of it, lighting up the back comer. The sum was larger than I could ever dream. That alone was enough to cover all taxes on the house for over a year. It felt wrong to have that much when I knew so many were struggling in Hell.  

"You have enough for this. And honestly, most of the dresses here. If you want to buy a few more, be my guest," the storekeeper said. 

I shook my head. No need to be wasteful. "This one is good enough." 

"Are you sure? I can cut you a deal. A lovely lady like yourself shouldn't just have one dress." 

One dress was more than enough. I rather send this money to my brother if I could. Having this much made me feel dirty. I didn't deserve it. "No. One will do." 

The shopkeeper's mouth twisted up. "Fine," he spat.

"Perfect. It's covered! You will get this one. You HAVE to." Eydis pushed me back into the changing room. "You're really going to stun the socks off those Motherwealth people. You really are." 

Grateful to get the dress off, I changed back into my normal clothes. They were comfier, worn, and faded, brought all the way from Hell. But I wouldn't get rid of them, no matter how much Eydis begged me too. They were a small bit of home, grounding me, reminding me where I came from. 

I handed the dress to the storekeeper. 

"Are you sure you don't want another dress with your funds?" he asked, pleading with me as if he needed it. 

I shook my head. One dress for one party. It seemed simple enough. No more was needed. Now I was getting irritated that he kept asking. Couldn't he understand no when he heard it the first time? 

"So be it." He sighed then put my dress in a bag and gave me a smile. "Have a nice day."

"You too," I responded as Eydis carted me out of the store. 

She linked arms with me as we walked down the sidewalk. She pulled me close. I could smell the shampoo of her hair. It was fresh and light, reminding me of Hell in summer. I didn't want her to let me go but she did to look at me. 

Eydis chuckled. "He seemed a little desperate to move merchandise." 

I nodded. His desperation reminded me of store owners in Hell. They always tried to move things, sell things, get some kind of money to keep the lights on.

"It's times like that when I realize that the Motherwealth is suffering just like the Commonwealths. They just aren't as loud about it." 

It was hard to beleive that they were suffering when everyone seemed to have clothes, cars, and food. They weren't suffering like I knew suffering. It was a poor comparison.  

Eydis shrugged. "I heard that greed, poor investments, war... all of this had made times hard for them."

My eyes widened. "What war?" I asked. I had never heard of any fighting. Who was crazy enough to fight the Motherwealth?

"It's a war on intellectual property. Why do you think we're here, training? For kicks and giggles? No, we're here because they need us to come up with the best things. To beat their neighbors." 

It never crossed my mind the true reason for why we were all here. I was too caught up in the practices to think of anything else. The training program was to make the Motherwealth better. When the Motherwealth won, we all did. That was what they taught us. But news on a war was earth-shattering. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know how she knew. 

"How do you know this?"

"I was once Ezra's best friend. He told me things that most people don't know." 

My mouth fell open as my feet halted. Another earth-shattering fact I didn't know. She was just letting it all loose today. "What?"

She shrugged as if it was common knowledge. "I thought you would have found out by now. You two seem close. I thought he would have shared."

But the thing was, Ezra never shared. I wanted to know more. Why was she not friends with him any more. What happened between them? 

"Anyhow, let's get some hot drinks. It's colder than I thought it would be." She pulled my hand as she led my down an alley. She glanced at me and chuckled. "Telvi, don't worry about it. I see that look in your face. Forget I even mentioned anything to you." 

The thing was, I don't think I could forget. This would eat away at me until I knew the full story.