& if you never bleed you're never gonna grow
Flora doesn’t even hesitate. "That’s not possible," she says, with a conviction so sharp and immediate that it startles even her. "Koa’s been gone on you since the first time he met you. I've seen the way he looks at you, Soh." Her voice softens at the end, thinking back to the time she'd said for the Luminary to shoot her shot with the dragoon way back when. The way Flora had teased them both when her feelings for Koa had been nothing more than a crush she was able to push aside.
She draws her knees up, wrapping her arms loosely around them as she tilts her head toward her best friend. "Are you okay with some unsolicited advice?" she asks—then rolls her eyes before Sohalia even answers. "Doesn’t matter, I’m doing it anyway." The wind stirs around them again, warm with the scent of freshwater and flowers, but Flora’s words are anything but breezy. "Don’t wait the two weeks."
She doesn’t look away, doesn’t blink, because this matters. "You don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. None of us do. I thought I had forever to sort things out, and look where that got me." The edges of her voice are raw again, not bitter, just brutally honest. "What if something happens? What if time—this time—is the thing that gets in your way?"
Her hands move restlessly, gold rings glinting against the curve of her knee. "If you both knew how you felt back then, if you’d said something instead of waiting, would you even be in this situation now?”" Her voice doesn’t waver, even as her throat tightens, even as her own could-have-beens circle like sharks in the back of her mind. She doesn’t say Koa’s name again. Doesn’t say that if he’d spoken up before Jack had pulled her into his orbit, he'd have been the one. That there’s a version of her life, sun-warmed and anchored, where her twin is still alive and she’s with someone who smiles at her like she’s sunlight and kisses her in the waves.
Instead, Flora simply shrugs. "I get it. He’s hesitant because of everything that's happened. And maybe you think two weeks isn’t that long. But if there’s a chance—if there’s even a sliver of something happening—don’t you want him to know exactly how you feel?" With the Family's violet presence ever marching on and with Koa doing more and more to try and position himself in the fight, it wasn't impossible to think something could happen to him.
She draws her knees up, wrapping her arms loosely around them as she tilts her head toward her best friend. "Are you okay with some unsolicited advice?" she asks—then rolls her eyes before Sohalia even answers. "Doesn’t matter, I’m doing it anyway." The wind stirs around them again, warm with the scent of freshwater and flowers, but Flora’s words are anything but breezy. "Don’t wait the two weeks."
She doesn’t look away, doesn’t blink, because this matters. "You don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. None of us do. I thought I had forever to sort things out, and look where that got me." The edges of her voice are raw again, not bitter, just brutally honest. "What if something happens? What if time—this time—is the thing that gets in your way?"
Her hands move restlessly, gold rings glinting against the curve of her knee. "If you both knew how you felt back then, if you’d said something instead of waiting, would you even be in this situation now?”" Her voice doesn’t waver, even as her throat tightens, even as her own could-have-beens circle like sharks in the back of her mind. She doesn’t say Koa’s name again. Doesn’t say that if he’d spoken up before Jack had pulled her into his orbit, he'd have been the one. That there’s a version of her life, sun-warmed and anchored, where her twin is still alive and she’s with someone who smiles at her like she’s sunlight and kisses her in the waves.
Instead, Flora simply shrugs. "I get it. He’s hesitant because of everything that's happened. And maybe you think two weeks isn’t that long. But if there’s a chance—if there’s even a sliver of something happening—don’t you want him to know exactly how you feel?" With the Family's violet presence ever marching on and with Koa doing more and more to try and position himself in the fight, it wasn't impossible to think something could happen to him.
