Da Capo (Manifesto)

[Zhenya]

Zhenya laughed, curious, but apparently not enough to pursue the topic. For now, anyway. The amused tilt of her smile suggested she was unlikely to forget the trinket; she had more reason than most to wonder if the luck might in fact be literal, but her attention turned its glittering splendor upon Adrian’s accusation instead. Despite Sören’s warnings, she had never been particularly recalcitrant with admitting what she was. She understood the dangers, but she could not bear the thought of it being something to hide. With Ascendancy’s revelation, the world would change. The power was something beautiful. It was something to be proud of.

Adrian’s jab was met with warm laughter and a teasing look that suggested she of course had no idea what he meant.

“An advantage if he recognises the feeling, and in my experience that is not usually the case,” she said to Cruz. A flick of power teased a brush against his nose, much as she had attempted on Natalie earlier. Afterwards Zhenya’s gaze grazed the girl, who was listening quietly, and then she laughed. Adrian’s interest in the topic was clear, and Zhenya was nothing if not accommodating, thus she gently encouraged an answer. “You have had a teacher? If this was something you heard?”