She’d lain there, bleeding and hyperventilating. The boy she’d helped showed up within a few minutes. He’d stared at her with a mix of anger, concern, and amusement.

“How did you find me?”

He’d nodded at her still-bleeding wound. “You left a trail.”

It had taken them a while to trust each other, since he couldn’t comprehend why she’d helped him, and she couldn’t understand why he’d followed her. He’d helped clean and bandage her wound, and a week later, when they ran into each other at a bar, they talked as easily as if they were childhood friends reunited.

“Thanks for coming,” she said now, wondering what she’d done to deserve a friend like Teo.

“I get why you still come here,” he said as he walked across the roof and sat next to her. “I’m still angry about my father’s death. He didn’t want to fight for any side in the war; all he wanted was a good job. But then the war began, and the Steels he worked for made him fight. What choice did he have if he wanted a job? And now he’s dead, and the railroad he helped build still runs, carrying the Steels who sent him to his death. You know how it was. The Steels liked to paint it as a battle between them and the Inosen. But most families were secretly on both sides. Why should they give up their beliefs for a job?”

“Or they were on neither side, and died in the crossfire,” Aina clarified.

“Or neither side,” Teo agreed, shaking his head. He paused for a long moment, the steadily blowing wind the only sound. “There’s no war now, but I feel like I’m in one. I used to watch other kids get sucked up into gangs and smuggling, and thought I was better than them for avoiding it. My parents were falcon riders in Linash before they came here, one of the most respectable jobs in their country. I never saw myself doing any dishonorable work, or becoming a criminal, until I had no choice. But when my father died, my career options were narrowed down. At least with this job, I don’t have a Steel breathing down my neck, threatening to leave my family starving if I don’t follow his orders.”

Aina didn’t say anything for a long time, her thoughts spinning. Kill or be killed. Magic or industry. Nothing could coexist—steel and smoke never left room for nuance.

“And when you realize this type of job is your only real option,” Aina began slowly, “you have to fight for it. You can’t just let it go when it gets difficult.”

Teo reached over and took her hand, holding it between his. The moonlight hit his face at this angle, illuminating flecks of gold in the amber of his eyes. He was close enough that she could count his eyelashes or the scars on his hands when she glanced down at them. She felt warmer and braver by that touch, protected by their loyalty to each other. In her short time away from Kohl, she’d begun to notice how sometimes Teo held her hand, touched her shoulder, or hugged her a moment longer than was necessary.