“Oof, that crash looked bad.”

“What?” Willow spun around to face the issuer of the latest comment on her life and immediately groaned at who she saw waiting for her, three empty stools down the bar from her own. “Great bird, why are you here?”

Catalina shrugged her shoulders in response, a wry smile forming. “Why not? Travel guide gave it a decent rating, thought I’d check it out.” She slapped a hand down on the bar, getting the barkeep’s attention and nodded to the man, pointing at her nearly empty drink and then holding up two fingers to complete the order from afar.

“Well, this was fun, but I’m off.” Willow stood from her stool, drew in a breath and started down the bar, past Cat. “Enjoy your evening.”

Cat’s hand was whip-fast as she reached out to block Willow’s retreat. “Sit down, would you?” The question verged on being an order. “At least have the drink I ordered before you go out there and try again?”

As tempting as it had been to just brush Cat off, to walk around her and leave, Willow acquiesced, making a small performance of an exaggerated sigh before sitting herself down next to Cat.

Nixxie’s was a small establishment near the northern shores of Banksy City. A street back from the clubs and restaurants with views out over the Dai Sea, Nixxie’s opted to lean into its diminutive space and locale. Stairs down off the street lead to a dim, but warm and comfortable bar. A handful of tables lined one wall of the long, narrow space, street-level windows above each. The other wall was dominated by the bar, lined with stools the entire length. Bottles of a multitude of shapes, sizes and colours hid the large mirror behind them.

But its real claim to fame, lost to most of the locals of Kyban, were the bar staff. Wizards of alcoholic alchemical arts, they refused to make set drinks, opting instead to ask questions of their patrons before contemplating their vast collection of reagents and producing fantastic drinks.

And that it was rated exceedingly high by some lieutenant a few years back for the Starfleet Travel Guide.

The same travel guide that had been consulted by Republic’s two best pilots.

“One drink, then I’m gone.”

“All I asked for,” Cat said before finishing her drink. “You know, haven’t said this directly since the whole Vaadwaur bullshit, but you did awesome.”

“Thanks,” Willow said without looking at Cat, opting to just stare at the bottles directly in front of her while she waited.

“Seriously, Beckman, I’m not trying anything. You did awesome. If it wasn’t for you, we’d never have taken the Underspace corridor, let alone managed to navigate it.”

Willow drew in a breath. Closed her eyes. She didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t want to be in the same room as Cat, really. Thirty-fives steps to the front door. Sixty-two to the back door. Just thinking about getting away she could see a variety of ways to do so. She’d always had a great sense of direction, or where she was. But now it was ridiculous.

And when she opened her eyes, the bottle directly opposite was missing, the mirror clear to see now. And the golden laurel that wrapped around her head, ever present and unmissable. That’s when she exhaled finally.

“But I didn’t,” Willow finally said. “Some stupid power did it.” She waved a hand to indicate the bioluminescent display she was now seemingly stuck with.

“Pish,” Cat challenged. “It’s your power, so you get to claim all the benefits.”

“Including that I have to get used to sleeping with an ever-present light on?”

Cat’s giggle didn’t help Willow’s mood at all. But she was quick to wave it away. “Sorry, sorry!” Cat sucked in a breath, regaining her composure. “Hey, great power comes with never needing a nightlight.”

As their drinks were set before them, both a highly suspicious blue as mist formed and flowed over the sides, Cat lifted hers, a smile on her lips. “To finding our way,” she said in toast. “And to Republic’s golden girl.”

“No.” Willow lifted her own drink, sniffed it, took a testing sip and then recoiled momentarily at the sour concoction. Then she blinked as the sweet aftertaste that hit her. “What the hell is this?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Cat’s toast unanswered, she indulged herself. “Look, can we move past this…whatever it is, that’s going on between us?”

Willow shook her head, eyes rolling. “There’s noting going on between us.”

“Yes, there is.” Cat set her drink down and turned to face Willow properly. “Day one you’ve been cold and aloof not just to me, but all of the Witches. What, you’re jealous? Want to be a starfighter pilot instead of a bus driver?” She paused, taking in Willow’s retaliatory glare. “Oh, that’s it! You want to be a fighter pilot.”

“Damn straight,” Willow said as she turned to gaze down into her drink. “I’m a damn good pilot. Better than you, I bet. Instead, I get a starship that gets a full flight of fighters assigned to it and have to watch you go flying about.”

“Better than me?” Cat asked. “Bold statement.” She leaned in, ducking to get Willow’s eyes. “You want to be a Witch, prove it. Prove it to me, prove it to the captain, prove it to yourself.”

Willow blinked a few times, then sat up straight, eyes squinting in mistrust. “Prove it?”

“Yeah, prove it. Join us for training. Tell the captain what you want to do. Hit the simulators. Show us you can do it and are willing to put in the effort.” Then Cat smirked as she picked her drink back up. “But you’re going to have to work on one thing if you really want me to take you seriously.”

“What?”

“Teamwork.” Cat shook her head, cutting off a protest early. “You need to know who you’re flying with and know you can trust them. Don’t have to like them, just have to trust them to have your back.”

Willow kept blinking, unsure just what was really happening here. She felt like Cat was running her over with a rogue shuttle. She was being offered a chance to possibly fly with the Witches. If she was just willing to let petty animosity go and give it a try.

“Fine,” she finally said in response. Her tone was neutral. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be snarky or thankful. She really wasn’t sure what to feel, honestly. She felt vaguely lost.

She felt lost.

And didn’t like it.

The drink at hand was quickly thrown back and she moved to stand, only for Cat to do the same, standing in front of her this time to block her exit from the bar. “Right, come on, I’ve got just the place to go.”

“I’d really rather not,” Willow said. “I’m on leave and would rather spend it with someone else.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Cat said, waving the protest away. “Tall, leggy blondes. I get it. She was cute. But you crashed out.” She hooked an arm with Willow’s and started to lead her out of Nixxie’s. “Best thing for a crash is a confidence booster, and I know just the thing.”

“What?” Willow asked. She didn’t like being led. Didn’t like not being in charge of where she was going. And she realised immediately it was because she didn’t know where she was going and how to get there.

“There’s an arcade two blocks away with flight simulators.” Cat sounded predatory as she continued on. “They do these big grand melee fights. Teams of two, twenty pilots total, best team wins. And I’m going to figure out if you make a decent wingman or not.”

“We’re going to go beat up a bunch of pretend dirt-siders?”

“Oh no,” Cat said, grinning wickedly. “We’re going to destroy them.”