@corditeheart
The flight to Esthar had been uneventful, which was just the way Aki preferred it. He still wasn’t exactly fond of that mode of transportation, efficient though it was. Nida, of course, lived for flying.
Aki would never admit that the handful of times Nida had been on board an aircraft during a near-disaster was a large part of why he was particularly anxious over flying. He pretended to stare out the window at the first patch of turbulence they hit, but squeezed his eyes shut, uttering a prayer in his mother’s native tongue, relaxing only when they leveled off, making a safe landing soon thereafter.
They were in Esthar on assignment, undercover, and trying to suss out any leads on just who had tried to take out President Loire less than 24 hours ago. The somewhat-oblivious Laguna had narrowly missed a gunshot to the head, when he bent over to adjust the strap on his sandal. Of all the dumb luck, Aki thought, rolling his eyes as he read over the initial report.
Aki nudged Nida after they’d landed; he’d had his earbuds stuck in his ears for the last leg of the flight, and had apparently dozed off at some point during his Esthari language lesson.
“I fell asleep during my first Esthari class too,” Aki remarked, chuckling dryly. “Think you know enough of the basics to get by? We have to try and blend in as best as we can.”
