Eriksson was going to ambush Sequoia in her room. How it came to this he didn't know. They were always friends and since the day they ment they both have been trustful to eachother. He remembers the day he met her like it was yesterday. He was passing through Edinburgh into the Taus when this jolly bunch "ambushed" them at the Tau jump hole. He immediately knew that this bunch wanted to be friends, so he set up a diplomatic meeting with them. And she was there the entire time. Back then she couldn't lay her eyes off of him. Nowadays she doesn't want to see him anymore. Eriksson found this change a bit fast and unexpected. He thought she knew he would always keep his friends above work at all times. That's why he was going to ambush her in her room, so he can remind her of that and so they can again be friends.
Hmm...the cake is starting to melt...
Eriksson hears footsteps near the door.
That must be her...I hope this goes better than planned.
It was a usual evening for Sequoia, so damn usual so it made her sick. Sequoia's irritation, accumulated for the last weeks from all the things happening around still wasn't enough to start seething with rage like Ambrosia did, but still, she finally became insomniac and in the rare periods of sleep she tended to see horrible dreams resembling parts of the visions and feelings she experienced on that meeting in Orkney a month ago. The local doctor shrugged his shoulders and wrote a prescription for some pills that hadn't started to help much yet. She never approved that kind of overcautiousness since it were her nerves suffering from everday stress and her subtle body experiencing side effects, but she humbly followed the instructions and added four pills to her breakfast and five to her dinner.
Finally, home sweet home. While home is a rather abstract term the same way working for a whole galaxy, a House, a system, a planet, a city, a district, a house, a flat, a room and just a single square meter where you feel calm, for Sequoia this room worked fine. She hadn't visited Tengoku for a while lately and the last quarell with Yuka exasperated her upset state, leaving anxiety of being at odds combined with lack of motivation to meet her and settle everything.
So, trying to distract her attention of everyday problems, she whistled some cover on nursery rhyme while walking through the passage along the similiar doors with numbers. Here it is, number fourty two fourty two. Sequoia entered the password on a little panel and the door opened, laying out Eriksson Ravenov, Major of Order Primary Fleet and a cake, apparently, vanilla flavoured.
Sequoia blinked.
"What the?.."
*chuckles* "Surprise, Ms.Hart. I just couldn't shake off the thought that you and me have distanced ourselves as friends. That's why I made this little surprise for you. I didn't know which sweet flavour you liked most so I just went with vanilla. And I do apologize for my trespassing in your room, but I don't think it would have been a surprise then. I was hoping we could have a nice chat you and I, and with some cake to go with it."
"Err... Major Eriksson", Sequoia finally pronounced his name, holding her indignation, "you managed to burst into my room with a... vanilla pie to make sure that we are still friends?! What will be next? You'll kidnap me to prove some deep feelings or so, won't you? Is that a standart practice in your "secret society" or what is happening here, for god's sake?!"
That was the least expected hard day's night for the indefinite period of time. And while she hadn't got a clear understanding what to do and how to show Erik to the door in the best way, she silenced and waited for some kind of logical answer.
"Secret society? You know that these are my actions and not those of the Order. Ever since you returned form that trip in Kusari you've started acting strange. And I worry for you. That's why I haven't had a good nights sleep ever since. What's wrong Ms.Hart, you can tell me, you damn know I won't tell to anyone. Cause I'm not like the rest of those mere excuses for Order agents. I make a damned difference between private matters and public matters, unlike them. I thought you knew that, but it seems to me like you have forgotten."
"Me... acting strange?"
Sequoia breathed out and made a step back.
What is he doing here? No idea. What is going on? Nonsense. Can he know anything? No, she hadn't told anyone except few people who won't give her away under any circumstances. Slowly the panic was replaced by another daily portion of irritation.
"I'm fine, completely, can't say for you. I do not know anything and I do not want to know what is all that for. Eriksson, please, go, before I called the guards."
"Call the guards? For me? Do you really think I wouldn't leave if you asked me?"
*sigh*
"Look..you don't have to be the smartest ass in Sirius to know that something has changed...And I believe, if you don't know already, that you should be able to tell me what happened on that trip. Because frankly, I'll take anything, from seeing a ghost to Nomads...anything, please...because...you're...you're....you're braking my heart, Miss Hart..please tell me what happened..."
"Eriksson, where do we think we are, in a kindergarden?"
This strange and a bit pathetic attempt to talk to her, to talk about something she had no wish to talk about, especially with Eriksson, this endeavour to get into the no-no part of her head - and the way he did it - all of that combined became a thought knocking in her nerve knots and making her fists clench.
"Look outside, for god's sake. If you see ponies pooping rainbows there, this all may make some subtle sense, but I'm in no way tempted to continue this ridiculous conversation.
Get lost. Now!"
"Kindergarten? Really? A grown man revealing his deepest feelings, telling you his most kept secrets, telling you that he loves you for you is childish? Well, if you think it's so, then it is so sadly...*sigh*I'll be leaving then."
Eriksson leaves his Major insignias and medals on Sequoia's desk.
"If you don't mind I'll go order a few rounds of the-best-drink-of-the-house. And, of course, you can have the cake."
"Oh, god, do what you want!"
Sequoia turned around and almost rushed along the passage, trying to go even, trying to keep her facial expressions calm and even to smile to that random Gaian that passed in the opposite direction like nothing happened. Why should her, Sequoia, be a carebear for all those people around like a self-appointed nursemaid, but without a fancy dress and knickers to let one to see for a second with a feigned embrassment?
Ten minutes later, already on the way to Glenale in the deep seat of her Mammoru, she tried not to think about what may happen and it was good for her since she could never imagine what will really happen there.