Luna Bubbles's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Axel kept his hand on Luna's belly through the night on the station platform. By morning, Luna's doubt had grown bigger than the bloat. He had stayed. He had not flinched. But staying was not the same as wanting. She had seen men endure a burp the way they endured a cold wind. She needed to know which one Axel was before she gave him another inch of herself. She slid out from under his hand and walked down the rise. He followed without asking. At the foot of the path she stopped at a tall shard of cracked crystal that had pushed up from the dirt overnight. Pink and green veins ran through the splits and gave off a low glow. She set her palm flat against it. "Here," she said. "Rub my belly here. If you mean it, I'll know." Axel set both hands on her stomach and pressed slow circles into the swell. Luna kept her eyes on his face. The pressure built fast under his palms. She did not fight it. A burp tore up her throat and broke against his chin, loud enough to bounce off the crystal behind her. Axel did not pull back. He did not blink. He smiled, small and real, and pressed his thumb deeper under her ribs to draw the next one out. "Again," he said. She burped again, longer, into his mouth almost. He laughed. Not at her. With her. The sound was short and surprised, like he had been holding it in for years. "I like it," he said. "I have always liked it. I want to hear them. All of them." He did not walk it back. He kept rubbing. He reached into his jacket and took out a jar. The liquid inside spun gold and pink when he tilted it. "Shake it," he said, and put it in her hand. She shook. The glow flared bright against her palm. "Every time you burp near me, it does that," he said. "I had it made. So you can see it on my face even when I'm quiet. Keep it. It's yours." Luna held the jar against her chest. Her hands stopped fidgeting. She burped once more, soft this time, and watched the jar flare. The doubt went out of her like air. She took Axel's ringed hand and led him off the path toward a small round cottage tucked in the vines at the edge of the rise. Glowing tendrils crawled across its walls and framed the door. "Inside," she said. "I want to know how loud I can get before you stop smiling." Axel opened the door for her. Across the rise, Voracia's tower still stood. Luna did not look at it. She had her answer, and she had a door to close behind them.