A Day Off

[Nesrin Aziz]

She glanced up when a trio took the table adjacent, but only for a moment. For all appearances, Nesrin was little more than a student busy with work. An old-fashioned laptop was open on her table, a coffee cup balanced beside it. Black curls fell about her shoulders, pinned back from her face, and she was snuggled down in an MSU hoodie. Her back was to the wall, her screen not visible to the casual eye, but anyone who took a peek would only see someone researching the Brotherhood of the Ascendant Flame. Theology was one of many things she had studied over the years she and Zar travelled, and the birth of a new religion certainly qualified interest, though that was of course not quite why she was curious. It served for a believable reason though, and no one much questioned the inquisitiveness of a student.

In fact she’d intended on scoping the place out for the first time today, but the fucking puzzle box was consuming her thoughts, and she still hadn’t figured out the combination to open it. She hadn’t replied to Zigzag since his explanation of the Emissary. If he had any sense he would have ratted her out by now rather than face the punishment he seemed to think was coming for them, but all that meant was they’d have her name, the address of the property she never stayed in, and that she was supposedly enrolled at the university as a post-grad. Nesrin was a ghost, and she lived as one. Anyone who came looking would soon find that out.

She was half listening to the conversation beside her as she worked, in part because she recognised the sound of the video the man played on his wallet. When one of the women excused herself and walked away, Nesrin paused to take a sip of her coffee. When she put the cup down, it caught the edge of the laptop. Coffee flooded everywhere, including her own lap as she scraped her chair back, reaching for the tiny serviette to dab at her keyboard. “Nonono!”