"She seems a decent sort. Anxious, but then all roses are. And she has better reasons for it than most."

"I don't see what you two see in her. She seems pretty boring to me."

"Tsk. And here I thought you knew, Aya."

"Knew what?"

Tasha takes one of Aya's big fluffy ears in hand and strokes it softly. "She's my alt."

"Oh. So then..."

"Not just any old rose."

"It's probably too much to hope for her to spread her wings, but perhaps she'll be a berry by the time she leaves."

"She was willing to listen to the arguments I had in favour of our side."

"And she's working on her trauma regarding her little kink. If she can just get past her anxiety, we'll make a berry of her yet." 

Aya sighs. "Just don't get too attached. She has what, eleven more days?"

"And the attention of two escorts and a therapist."

Kumi looks down at her right wrist, where the emblem of a winged blackberry nestles against the heel of her hand. 

"All we can do is hope and help as best we can. In the meantime... Best to rest."

Ishaza leans her head into Kumi's petting hands. "Tired, are we?"

"I haven't slept in weeks."

"That's what dyne is for, darling."

"I know, I know. But I miss it. I just want to curl up in someone's arms and drift away..."

"You really are tired, aren't you. How many hours have you been out front these past few days?"

"Mmmmmmmmnotsure. Sixteen?"

"In how many days?"

"One." Kumi has the good grace to look sheepish.

"No wonder you're exhuasted. Aftercare potions are not a substitute for real snuggling, darling."

"Mhm. Which is why I'm back in the city and planning to stay for a day at least."

"Good for you."

"What kind of shenanigans required you to be front for sixteen hours? Did you start chaining roses, or did a couple berries have their way with you very thoroughly?"

"It was mostly roses. And Hannah."

"Ah. Always good for a fuck, that girl."

"It's a real shame she hasn't spread her wings yet. She'd be a great addition to the city."

"Yes, well. You know the rules as well as I do."

"You could always get her in with your family allowance if you wanted to."

"Sure, she's a great lay, but I wouldn't want to live with her."

"And so she remains a berry. How many years is she on now?"

"I think she's on her third decade of berryhood? I'm not sure how long it took her to graduate from being a rose. I seem to remember it was quick."

"She dove into the Blackberry Gardens on her second day, if I recall correctly. She was never really a rose."

"That tallies."

"You should rest, Kumi. You can stop brushing my hair."

Kumi blushes. "Brushing your hair helps."

Ishaza inclines her head. "Then you may continue."

Brush, brush, brush.

"Would you all like to come by to my palace later today?"

"Your 'palace' is a tacky mess."

"Kumi."

"I'm sorry. I'm tired and cranky."

"I predict a phone call in three... two... one..."

A ringing sound emanates from Kumi's robe pocket. She sighs.

"I hate it when you're right. Let me get this..."

She raises the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Kumi?"

"Eva! It's been weeks. What are you calling about?"

"I could just really use a soft fluffy fox to cuddle right now, is all. Intense scene."

"... do you mind if I fall asleep cuddling you?"

"No, that would be perfect. Words are hard right now. I don't want to have to... try."

Kumi nods into her phone. "I'll be right over."

"Duty calls, hm?"

"The Bowers looking out for me as usual."

Tasha smiles slightly. "Goodnight, darling."

Kumi yawns as she heads for the shoji out. "Night."

"Night, sleepyhead."

"Rest well."

"See you all later." And she's gone out the door.

Aya looks up at Tasha. "Could we...?"

Tasha gets a sliver-thin smile and looks over at Ishaza. "I think we'd like the room."

Ishaza nods and stands, dusting off her skirts. "It's alright, I was planning to go for a walk of the neighborhood anyway." 

"There's a new shawarma place nearby. Quiet, but the proprietor seemed nice. You could go get to know her."

"Sounds like a lovely idea. Have fun, you two."

"Oh, we will." Aya kisses Tasha's thigh over her robes.

Ishaza steps out, and slides the shoji closed behind her. A soft giggle carries through the thin paper to her, and she smiles to herself. 

She descends the front steps of Kumi's house to her rock garden, and looks around. It's the Asian district - all in traditional style, with calligraphy murals and woodblock art on every visible wall. She follows the path of ornamental stepping stones out a small gate in the bamboo fence, and out into the citygarden; hydrangeas are planted along the path, with cherry-blossom trees still in the full of spring making an enclosing arch overhead. Here and there along the way there are fenced gardens like Kumi's, but mostly the buildings seem to have grown where they stand, often with living wood built into their walls and ceilings. The path winds and dips - there's no city-grid here. She thinks about the shawarma place and picks a direction at random.

She walks for a little while, passing a small gazebo with a cuddlepile of four or five people actively in session and an ornamental pond strewn with lotuses. There's a street vendor giving away chinese dumplings and bread buns; she passes him by.

Eventually, she comes to a rosewood bungalow with a calligraphic sign out front advertising shawarma in Chinese. Though the characters are unfamiliar to her, it's perfectly readable; she steps up to the door and lets herself in.

The room beyond is small, with only three low tables set up and a half-height counter with a console, behind which a dark-skinned elf in a business suit is sitting reading a book. A windchime dings and clinks as Ishaza comes in the door.

"Hey there," says the elf on the floor, not getting up from her comfortable position sprawled across her cushion. "I don't recognize you, are you here for shawarma?"

"I am! I've never had it before. Always something new to try in New Los Angeles. I'm Ishaza, you are...?"

"Ishaza? The Ishaza? Queen of the Vine Court Ishaza?"

Ishaza glances down at the elf's wrist. Only one wing. Ah. That explains that. 

"Yes, but you shouldn't take the title seriously. I made the game, of course I win at it."

"Isn't the Vine Court like hundreds of years old...?"

"Yes, and...?"

"Oh. Right." She blushes. "Anyway, it - would be a pleasure to serve you, Madam Ishaza." 

"I get enough of that from my roses, you can knock it off. And I still don't know your name."

"Oh! Um, Elisandra. Elisandra Whyte."

"How long has it been since your first wing, darling?"

"Two months now. I'm still... figuring things out."

Ishaza nods. "How's front going for you?"

"Fine, thanks for asking - I really enjoy meeting new people, exploring new things, taking on new challenges -"

"I hear a but."

"... but I'm still struggling to get used to the job and balancing it with my wife, you see..."

"I'm going to speak plainly to you, darling. There is no 'job.' You can go months without seeing roses or berries and nothing will happen to you. You're a wing now, and that's never been an easy transition, but it'll go much easier if you just... relax. Let me guess, you've been trying to maintain a schedule?"

"Yes, well, if I don't schedule things then how will I make sure I'm giving enough time to my wife and to my clients and to myself?"

"You walked through the Doors of Night when you became a wing, yes?"

"Yes."

"So you know what it is to trust. Just... do what you want to, and don't sweat the hours. The Bowers will do the scheduling for you, like how it's made me show up when you happened to be open."

"I'm... learning that, slowly. It's why I opened this shop."

"Which isn't really a shop, seeing as how no money changes hands, but..."

"... I like making people food, okay? I always dreamed of opening a restaurant someday."

"You cook the shawarma yourself?"

"Mhm! The console stores it for me so I don't have to worry about refrigeration or anything, but everything I sell - well, give away - was made by me personally. And I always assemble the ingredients right in front of the customer."

"I think that's beautiful."

Eli blushes. "Really?", she squeaks.

"It's an act of service, right? New Los Angeles runs on that kind of thing. People giving from the deepest dreams of their hearts. You've seen the cafes, the libraries, the clubs, all the public art - now, most things are maintained and helped along by the bowers, but every part of this city was shaped by people. The Bowers doesn't do design work at all. It's all built by volunteers like you, having fun."

"... so would you like some shawarma?"

"I would love some."

There's the sound of a sliding shoji from off to the left.

Ishaza looks over.

The three-dimensional silhouette of a woman has just come into the room. She waves. She's not wearing clothing, but her ethereal form serves to preserve her modesty. 

"A customer!" Her voice is bright and full of a smile. 

Ishaza's practiced eyes pick out the illuminated heart on the silhouette's right wrist. "You're Elisandra's wife, then?"

She nods. "Got it in one! She's my sunflower.~" She phases right through the low counter and sits in her wife's lap.

Elisandra leans in and kisses her shadow-wife, then smiles back at Ishaza. "I was just telling Ishaza here about how we're settling in in New Los Angeles."

"It was a big decision, settling in here. To say that I was surprised by Eli coming back from the Bowers with a job offer is an understatement."

"I'm surprised she risked the Doors of Night when she had a wife already."

"Sunaira just... didn't seem like the kind of person who would want to separate me from the woman I love most in all the world. And after our daughter left the nest, well... We were searching for something and we didn't know what it was we were looking for."

"Though we had a guess it could be found in bed."

Ishaza laughs. "And so the Bowers found you! Tell me, do you regret it?"

"Too early to tell."

"We were considering having another daughter together, but New Los Angeles is no place to raise a child."

"We still wonder, sometimes."

"I think you'll come to realize you made the right choice after a few more months here. New Los Angeles is - I don't think there's anywhere else like it in the entire OTC."

"It's really, really weird knowing that practically everyone I pass on the street here is, well..."

"An 'escort.' Yes. That is the legal fiction."

"I mean, I still do rounds of the front..."

"As do we all, dear, as do we all. But it's hard to describe it as a job when all you have to do is be a permanent resident of the Bowers."

"Hm. Speaking of which, I should make you that shawarma."

"A little hard to do with your wife in your lap, I would think."

Thistle shifts down to lie mostly flat behind and inside the counter. "There, that's better."

And Eli starts pulling ingredients out of the console on little plates and putting them together.

"I like your house, by the way. You've put some thought in here."

"The body of it is prefab, but the calligraphy over the door is mine."

"And obviously we had to tweak the main floor a bit to get the restaurant how we liked it."

"I like that you only put in three tables. It says you know what you want."

Eli ducks her head. "Yeah, I've never really liked crowds much. But serving people - that's okay." 

She wraps a selection of veggies and spiced meat up in a thick pita, and offers it to Ishaza.

"Can I get a pop to go with this?"

"Certainly! What kind do you want?"

"Orange soda, please."

Eli pulls a can of orange soda out of the console and places it next to the plate of hot shawarma.

Ishaza picks up the shawarma wrap and takes a big bite out of it. 

"Mmm. S'good." She chews, swallows. Takes another bite and closes her eyes to savour it.

"My wife makes excellent shawarma." Thistle's voice is rich and firm.

"Mmm. She really does! I may have to come back here! Do you mind if I tell my friends about it?"

"Go ahead!"

"It was one of my friends who told me about this place in the first place - dragon girl, cute little horns, name of Tasha?"

"Oh yeah, I know her! She was one of my first customers when we opened."

"She really likes hunting for new food places in town. This one is close to a mutual friend of ours' house, so it's no surprise she found it quickly."

"How can you hunt for anything when the Bowers will just lead you right to what you're looking for?"

"Tasha isn't looking for restaurants, she's looking for adventures that end in restaurants. There's an important difference there."

"Huh. I never considered that you could do that..."

"I take it you didn't spend much time as a berry then."

"No, not actually. A good number of my clients are more experienced than me still."

"Have fun learning. It'll be a while before you catch up and get your second wing."

"I hear the second wing is traditionally awarded at five years of service?"

"More or less. It varies for everyone. And that's all I have to say on the matter."

"Another trust fall?"

"More of a settling in period. Enough time to decide really for sure whether you want to stay." She takes a sip of her orange soda.

"I see..."

"Don't worry about it. Whatever will be, will be."

Thistle sits up and starts putting away the plates of ingredients.

"Oh, thank you dear."

"It's nothing, Sunflower."

Ishaza goes back to her shawarma wrap.

"Ishaza. Do you have any advice for me, as a heart?"

"Live your life. Love your wife. Enjoy the luxury of the Bowers. A quarter of the city is hearts just like you, so don't feel lonely. And if some day you want to spread your wings, we'll be sure to welcome you as well."

Thistle nods.

Ishaza finishes her shawarma wrap in another few bites, and nods to her hostesses. 

"I think I'm off now. It was nice to talk and get to know you two a little."

"I'm glad you liked the food."

"Come back anytime."

"I will."

She gets up, stoops to pick up her orange cola from the low table, and walks out the door with a smile tossed over her shoulder.