Noble knew exactly what Honey meant. There was no way either of them could forget.
The professor had promised her daughter to tell her the truth about things on her sixteenth birthday.
Unfortunately, that day had been a little chaotic. Celebration with friends and family had meant that the two ladies were unable to have the anticipated conversation.
The following weeks were just as busy. The announcement of the evacuation of Antarctica as well as a big push for people to join the second army had overshadowed everyday life in a way that could not be easily defined.
But that wasn't the full picture.
If Noble were being honest with herself, she was reluctant to have the heart-to-heart. It wasn't because she didn't trust Honey with the information.
Far from it!
Her daughter would be able to keep the secret.
The reason she hadn't told Honey things as she had promised was illogical. Until Noble had followed through with her promise, the professor did not have to admit that her daughter was actually sixteen.
And until she was sixteen, the Spell would be forced to leave Honey alone.
Of course, the Spell was not beholden to the professor's whims, but it was all she could do to keep her worry at bay.
'Superstitious nonsense.' Noble chided herself.
Having put the fear behind her, Noble allowed her daughter to name the time and date of the big reveal.
As Honey's message has said: Tonight was the night.
Noble would come clean.
Among other things, Honey would find out about the professor's flaw and first nightmare. The teen would also discover that her mother was Queen Bee.
Noble was both anxious and a tad excited about the last part.
As Fireshing had pointed out in their sparring match the day before. "She isn't going to believe it until she sees it for herself."
It was fun to think about how the girl would react. Honey had grown so much in the past three months since Noble had returned from the port. The teen looked more like a woman and less like a girl every day.
The next two years would be a roller coaster ride. Fortunately Honey had not felt sleepy yet.
'She isn't Seb. She is her own person...'
Bidding her companions farewell as they took their own paths, Noble boarded her first light rail train on her journey home. This one would exit the outskirts so that she could switch to another and make it home in time for dinner. Her stomach rumbled, but she ignored it.
Awakened didn't need food as often as others. She would be fine.
Before she could select a seat, the door shut and the train began to move with a jolt. It wasn't much, but it was enough to knock a piece of fruit from a passenger's hand.
Real fruit in the outskirts! That was very rare indeed. The ruby apple rolled down the length of the train, hungry eyes watching and trying to decide if it was worth the fight.
It wasn't.
Noble reached down to pick up the fruit. Her fingers stung terribly, but she managed a smile.
"Be careful with that," she said as she passed the food back to its owner.
The young man dipped his head. "I will."
Finding a seat, the professor examined her hand. 'Not as bad as the last time,' she observed. 'I finally think I am building up a tolerance.'
Being thrown to the ground by the Bludgeoner three months before had been a wake-up call. It showed Noble just how frail she really was.
Since that time, the professor had touched the ground at least once a day. Of course, she could never be immune to her flaw, but Noble theorized that perhaps she could fight the effects slightly through repeated exposure.
Noble had touched the ground longer than was strictly necessary just then, and yet she had managed to make it through. Her hand felt like it was being bitten by a million ants, but there was no nausea from the encounter. Her ability to handle the pain was improving.
'That's progress.'
Settling into her seat, Noble began scrolling on her communicator. Most of the news was praising the evacuation efforts and downplaying the severity of the gates.
Noble wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was good not to create a huge amount of panic, but it also felt incredibly dishonest.
Tales of Mongrel's heroism, at least, did not seem to be exaggerated. 'Though I don't get why some of these articles call him a woman?' Noble furrowed her brow. 'Are they crazy?'
Frey, for his part, was the most realistic in his reporting. But his reports about Antarctica were always brief, probably to prevent painting too bleak a picture.
And things there were very bleak. While the people who had made it to the NQSC so far had all been from Eastern Antarctica, the news from the Antarctic Circle was nothing but bad.
Of course, Fort couldn't--or at least wouldn't--give her all the details, but the snippets she had caught while helping her mother told her that the area was a lost cause. While not the most populated part of Antarctica, many had lost their lives.
By the time she needed to change trains, Noble was in an even more somber mood. Try as she might to ignore it, Noble could vividly picture what was happening in the frozen land across the sea.
Visions of the past followed her like wraiths onto the light rail that would take her toward her neighborhood.
'I need to cheer myself up before I get home, or at least get my mind in a different place.'
She needed something, anything, to distract her mind or keep it occupied. The professor knew just the thing.
Unfortunately, there were no seats just now on the car Noble was boarding.
That was fine. Noble wasn't really able to sit anyway. She grabbed the handrail overhead and waited for the train to move.
They were barely on their way when a young man with eyes like honey droplets cleared his throat. "Please take my seat," he offered.
It was an unnecessary gesture, but a kind one, and Noble needed a little bit of kindness just then. She smiled at him warmly.
"Thank you."
The thin young man shifted to trade places with her. "You are welcome. Even Awakened need breaks now and then."
"Do I look that worn out?" Noble brushed the stray hairs back into her ponytail.
The other passenger rubbed the back of his neck. "More like you looked a little too deep in thought. I am sorry if I was being presumptuous."
"Not at all. I appreciate the thought." Noble held out her open palm. "Thanks again…"
"Aiden." The man courteously dipped his head.
"Thanks again, Aiden. It's nice to meet you."
The track lifted into the air, giving them an aerial view of that part of the city.
"It's surreal, isn't it? To think about all that is happening at this moment within view of that window. Impossible to fathom really." Aiden had a far-off gaze.
Noble wondered what adventures he was imagining were happening, but decided to let the man have his daydream.
The only safe place to dream was while awake, and there was no way that the professor would take that away.
When Aiden finally came back from his long reverie, his eyes opened wide.
"What is that?!"