Florian's eyes narrowed. Could she have caved so easily? "Someone special, to her?"
Lilith raised an eyebrow slightly "Err, yeah, a long time ago." She didn't like where this conversation was going.
"When did she give this to you?" He had to be careful here in case his questions gave too much away.
"Just now, before you came in." change the subject, "Look, she fixed my scarf too!" She grabbed a loose end, showing him the stitching.
"Very nice." Said Florian, waving off the subject of scarves. "Cherries." He mused, refering to the fuit of course.
Shit. "What, you don't like cherries? You some kind of fruit..." She furrowed her brow for a second, then grimaced when she realised she was too commited "...ist?"
"Is that a word?" He meant it too,the maidens were always using new words Florian had never been taught in his studies. Though they usually ended up only meaning something to them.
She was very defensive about fruit. That tore it then.
"They have a story behind them, don't they? She told you it."
Lilith began to explain herself. "Well, it's like a racist but with fr-" She froze as he asked his second question, her eyes widened, "You know about Margaret?" Her voice barely a whisper.
"And so do you it seems." Florian whispered back, glancing around to make sure the others weren't listening in.
She took a step closer to him, glancing at Meredith's back. "When did she tell you?" She kept her voice low.
"Not long before the incident with the two of you." He said a little awkwardly, looking at Lilith's bruises. "Her secret did not keep long."
"So, you know about Axel?" She lead him into answering, just to make sure.
"Yes." Florian simply said. His voice as low as it could go.
"And Elizabeth?"
"All of it." At least to his knowledge.
"And about Dio?" She wanted to make sure they were on the same level.
"Yes she, told me about what he had done." Florian gave an uncomfortable shuffle as he made doubly sure the captain couldn't hear. It was beginning to feel like gossiping.
"Jesus Christ..." She whispered, biting her bottom lip. "So you know why she did... this, to me?" She pointed at her black eye.
"I knew what sparked her anger but it was foolishness that led her to violence." Florian grimaced. Just because he understood, didn't mean he approved.
She nodded her head a few times, "That's good..." She started to speak, but then paused, she crossed her arms across her chest. "Umm, Padre." She looked up at him, "Florian." Her voice cracked slightly. "Could you do me a favour? See, the others don't know why Pixie... acted, the way she did. I've tried explainin' to Aesop, but I couldn't say too much, obviously." She bit her lip again. "And the thing is..." She took a slow deep breath, trying to keep her voice steady. "Me and Axel. We aren't coming back."
It hit him like a punch in the chest. Was this how far the captain was willing to go, was she trying to protect Axel from Dio in case he came hunting for them further? But it was Lilith and Axel. the thought of the Maiden without them it... it just didn't seem right!
This isn't the time man, this is hard enough for all of them as it is.
Florian swallowed his emotions and put on his priest face. "Everything is in confidence." He said. "Do you know where you will go?"
"Err yeah." A tinge of distress was clearly evident in her voice. "We go to Feroxi, exchange this Bart guy, get the carbon, and that's that." She looked up at the priest's eyes, "We don't come back." A look of worry entered her face, "Axel doesn't know, Florian, I have to tell him that we'll never see this place again, or at least, no time soon." arms that were once crossed, now cradled themselves, her fingers biting into her arms. "I... I don't know know what I'm gonna do."
"You don't have to do it alone. I already know, what harm can there be in help?" He had to resist the urge to reach out and comfort her, that wasn't his place, not any more. Florian told himself firmly. Not that it helped much.
"I can't tell him now, he needs to be able to focus on the exchange, or he'll get us both killed." She furrowed her brow. "I haven't told anyone else, nobody else knows we're leaving, other than Meredith and Cranston." She paused for a second. "And I'm not going to tell them."
"Very well." He nodded solemnly. What else could he say? They both had their parts to play and however grim they had their burdens to carry. It didn't stop Florian feeling utterly useless of course.
"Florian, I-" At that moment, Sprout sauntered onto the bridge, none the wiser to the curve ball that was about to hit him between the eyes.
