The night fell completely outside, and inside the lights of the bar dimmed to a sort of deep red glow. Hawk and Parker had found a pair of free stools at the bar, and sat working their way through their drinks; it was busier, now, and the seats around them were host to one monster after another as they came for a drink and then ambled off again.

"So, uh," Parker said, breaking an awkward silence, "You're going to fly into Enodia? That's your plan?"

"It got us halfway here," Hawk murmured, fidgeting with his hair, his ears, his neck, the now-empty whiskey glass in front of him. Parker made a skeptical noise and lifted a fresh cocktail to her muzzle. Hawk--flushing deeply, from either discomfort or alcohol or both--added, "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Leavin'. I dunno."

Parker gave her cocktail a sort of wry half-smile. "For not being able to carry us--full-grown adults--across hundreds of miles of open ocean?"

"Yeah," Hawk answered, subdued.

"Don't be. So what's waiting for you in Enodia?"

Hawk paused. "I dunno anymore," he said, and more quietly, "Maybe nothin'." After a moment, he asked, "Are you gonna be okay if your medicine runs out?"

Parker drained her cocktail in a few long draughts. "Well," she said, "they're estrogen pills. Technically, I'll be okay. I guess."

The ogre bartender interrupted them by leaning over the bar, bracing himself on one well-muscled arm, and asking, "'Nother whiskey for ya?"

Hawk brightened a bit. "Yeah, thanks."

"Yes please," Parker agreed, much less brightly.