Welp, I just saw that the last time I posted a chapter of this was in 2014. Even though I already had some scenes finished. Hm. I'm trying to get back into writing, but inspiration isn't quite here yet. I'm gonna post what I already have first, anyway. We'll see how it goes.

Summary: Mirania's friendship with Zael, Dagran and Asthar is tested when a special job comes up for them.

"Mirania? Mirania?!" Zael called from the door. Mirania, who had been staring at her melted cheese sandwich in the microwave, startled. Hopping on one leg as he tried to slip off his shoes, Zael looked into the kitchen. "You won't believe what happened today."

"Hm?"

"We've got a new colleague." A smirk crept onto Mirania's face. She had some idea who that mysterious, new colleague. "It's Asthar."

"That's great," she answered calmly. Zael stopped in his tracks and looked at her incredulously. "Asthar told me," she continued with a nonchalant shrug and turned to her sandwich again.

"Oh. Alright?"

"I'm happy to hear that he accepted. Was he received well?"

"Yeah," Zael said, walking over to the refrigerator, and grabbed a bottle of water. "Of course. The boss told us that they know each other and that Asthar had been a lieutenant or sergeant or whatever during the Civil War and the Trans-Continental Wars. I don't remember." Mirania silently made note of that. It sounded like a good reason to look for her high school history books. Maybe it would help her understand Asthar better. "Afterwards, we trained together."

The microwave 'ping'ed and Mirania took out her sandwich. The delicious smell of melted cheese immediately filled her mind and nose.

"He's still really good," Zael continued as Mirania devoured the sandwich. "I'm looking forward to working with him." He grinned at her.

"I'm sure he's just as glad."

##

Mirania wondered who would ring at their door at a late Monday afternoon as normally no one would be there and most people knew that. Even their postman. When she opened the door, she was almost shocked. It was an extremely tired-looking Asthar. He smiled when he saw her, but that didn't make the dark rings under his eyes disappear nor did it give his face a more healthy colour.

"What happened?" was the first thing Mirania could think of.

"Nothing," Asthar answered and Mirania thought he seemed genuinely surprised. On the other hand, there was no way he hadn't looked into a mirror yet. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you…"

"No, no," Mirania said, shaking her head, and stepped aside. "Come in." Only when Asthar bent down, did Mirania see that he brought three big tupper boxes with him. She could already guess what was in there; her mouth started to water. "The kitchen is on the left."

She followed him there. While placing the boxes on the short worktop, Asthar looked around. "Your kitchen really is tiny."

"Our friends call it a shoe box," Mirania said, chuckling. If Mirania would stand in the middle of the room with her arms extended, she could comfortably place her palms on the opposite walls at the same time. They couldn't even completely open the fridge. Asthar with his broad frame made the kitchen look even smaller, though; it seemed more like a sardine tin than a shoebox now. At least the kitchen had a small window.

"Very true." Asthar turned to her and patted on the boxes. "A friend of mine had a party yesterday. I told him I know a few students who would be happy about free food." Mirania nodded; she had the feeling he wasn't telling the whole truth, but then, there was food distracting her. She was dying to peek into the boxes, to see what kind of deliciousnesses were waiting for her.

"Well, that's all I wanted to do." Asthar looked around awkwardly.

"You don't want a drink or some tea first?" Mirania asked, startled back into the present.

"No, thank you."

Mirania nodded slowly and stepped back to let Asthar out of the kitchen. As she accompanied him to the door, she remembered something. "Zael said you had you first job yesterday. Or was it the day before yesterday?"

"Yes."

His harsh tone irritated her slightly. "Did it go well?"

"Yes." He sounded a bit more relaxed now. "It was alright." When he was out of the door, he turned to her once again, smiling. "Goodbye. I'll see you at the next protest."

##

Mirania fought with herself for an hour or two; then she couldn't stand it anymore and called Zael.

"Zael, did you hear anything about Asthar's job?"

"What?"

Mirania sighed lowly. "He was here a while ago and brought food. He didn't look well." She spun around with her office chair to let out a bit of her odd agitation.

"No, I don't think so." There was a short moment of silence. "I didn't really see him. Wait… I think the boss talked to him yesterday. He seemed angry after he hung up. But I've seen an email from the client and they seemed to be happy so that couldn't be it."

"Maybe it doesn't have to do with the job at all," Mirania said more to herself.

"That could be. Erm, Mirania, I've got to hang up. Dagran is waiting for me."

"Alright, bye, Zael."

Zael hung up and Mirania slowly lowered her cell. She still didn't have a good feeling about this, but she also felt that she was poking her nose into matters that weren't her business. Frustrated, she tossed her cell on her table and grabbed the nearest journal. She still had to study a bit and thinking about Asthar's problems would only drag down her grades.

##

Mirania did not expect to be surprised with the smell of delicious, almost right out of the oven, high quality pizza while watching a game show with Yurick. Like a tracker dog, she lifted her head and sniffed the air. Yurick threw her a disturbed look.

"Zael?"

"Yeah." Smiling sheepishly, he entered the living-room, carrying three big pizza cartons. Mirania licked her lips and turned, leaning on the backrest of the couch. "I've brought a snack."

"What did we do to deserve this?" Yurick asked with one raised eyebrow as Zael handed Mirania one pizza and cut up another for himself and Yurick.

"Eh?" Zael startled. "Nothing." Yurick's eyebrow rose even higher. Mirania just gazed curiously at Zael. He swallowed and handed Yurick his plate. Zael looked nervous when he sat down next to Mirania. "What's up? Eat." He started stuffing his mouth with pizza. His behaviour was obviously odd, but Mirania found it hard to concentrate on it when the mouth-watering smell of dough, spring vegetables and cheese was floating up her nose.

After Mirania had devoured one and a half pizzas and the game show was over, Zael seemed to finally have found the courage to spill his secret. "Mirania, there's something I have to tell you…" He threw a glance at Yurick, who ignored the implied plea to leave. Zael sighed, dropped his gaze and folded his hands in his lap before he continued. "Dagran and I got a new job offer."

"Congrats," Mirania said, her tone slightly confused.

"It's…" Zael licked his lips and looked up. "It's for the Arganan Enterprise." For a moment, the room was deadly still. Zael started frowning as Mirania continued staring at him with empty eyes.

Mirania was fighting to keep her self-control, to suppress that rage that was boiling in her stomach. She had no reason to explode yet. "And?" Her voice shook lightly.

"Dagran wants to accept." Mirania clenched her jaw – her pulse was throbbing loudly in her ears. "He says it could be a great opportunity because it would be a big job and we could prove ourselves. And we're just juniors at work. It would look really bad if we were so picky already."

"What about you?" Zael hesitated. "You know as much about this company as I do."

"I know, Mirania." He sighed and bowed his head. "But Dagran is also right."

"So you want to accept as well." Rage was bubbling up from her stomach to her throat. Her fingers were growing cold. She couldn't believe this.

"Yes," Zael said with a deep sigh.

"I see." Forcefully, Mirania pushed herself up from the couch. She felt slightly sick and the taste of pizza in her mouth made her want to throw up; that he thought he could bribe her – could make her forget her principles – with pizza… "I don't want hypocrites in my organisation. You don't need to come on Saturday." She strode out of the room; she couldn't stand Zael's presence anymore.

"Mirania!" Zael called after her, but she was already out of the door.

##

Mirania had considered calling Syrenne or Lowell to get her anger about Zael's decision off her chest, but in the end she had decided against it. While they passively supported her cause, they didn't really understand how important this was to her. No, there was someone else who would understand her far better.

Directly after her last lecture of the day, Mirania took the bus to Asthar's apartment. She had still been fuming when she had woken up today, but over the day her anger had started to fade. Mirania just couldn't stay angry for so long; she was mostly sad and disappointed now.

Thanks to her chewing over yesterday night, Mirania almost missed the right bus stop. The air was surprisingly cold for a summer day and the fresh breeze helped clearing Mirania's mind a bit. She paused and took a deep breath. The fresh air seemed to flush out the rest of her anger. With a slightly better mood, Mirania took the stairs up to the fifth floor. Her cheeks were pink when she stood in front of Asthar's apartment and knocked.

Nothing happened so she knocked again. After a minute, Asthar still hadn't come. Mirania frowned; was he not here after all? But she knew that he had no jobs on Thursday. Obviously, something unexpected could've happened or maybe he had things to do… Mirania pressed her ear to the door. But she was sure that she was hearing something. There was someone at home.

"Asthar?!" she called and knocked again.

Finally, she heard footsteps. She smiled in anticipation. When Asthar opened the door, though, her smile dropped and she frowned again. Asthar looked hounded and tired. "Mirania?" he asked surprised.

"I'm sorry, am I bothering you?"

"No. No, not really. Is something the matter?" He smiled, but that made Mirania only a bit more uncomfortable.

"Well–" Mirania stopped dead; she could smell something. Smoke. "Something is burning."

"Oh shit." Asthar turned and ran down the hallway into the kitchen. Mirania heard the rattle of a pan and the hissing of water on a stove. She hovered at the door for a few seconds before finally entering and closing the door behind herself. She dropped her backpack at the coat rack – she was surprised he even had one considering the state of his apartment – and followed him into the kitchen.

Asthar was just dropping charred food into the bin. Mirania looked around; the kitchen was messy and there was an obscene amount of cut-up vegetables in several metal bowls. Far too much food for a single man – it would even be too much for Mirania.

"For whom are you cooking?"

"Ah, for…" Asthar looked at her, then the vegetables, the pan and then to her again. Suddenly he sighed deeply and his shoulders drooped. "For no one." With another tired sigh, he flopped down on a kitchen chair opposite of Mirania. Frowning, she watched him resting his face in his hands. "I had a stressful day and just wanted to relax." He shifted, resting his chin on his hands now, and looked ahead with his eyes half-closed. Mirania's heart beat sped up slightly. He looked so beaten down.

"Seems like a waste," she said carefully.

"I know," he sighed. "I thought about making soup, spring rolls and vegetable salad." He sat up straight. "Would you be so kind and take some?"

"Of course." Despite the situation, her mind began fantasying about eating Asthar's delicious cooking later. Her stomach growled in agreement. Asthar chuckled.

"Well, what brings you here? Other than food." He stood up and, turning his back to her, took out another pan and pot.

Mirania dropped her gaze and sighed lowly. "Zael told me that he'll work for Arganan." Asthar froze for a second before dumping a handful of leek into the pot. It sizzled loudly.

"I know."

"You know," Mirania all but exclaimed. Then she shook her head; of course he would know. They were working for the same agency. "I can't believe that he would do that. I always thought he stood behind my organisation. Maybe not as much as I, but that he would betray everything so…" She bit her lips. Her disappointment was flooding her mind.

"I've got the same offer." Mirania startled as if she got an electric shock. Asthar turned to her, crossing his arms. "And I've thought about accepting it as well."

Mirania felt as if the ground was crumbling beneath her. Had she been delusional? Did anyone in her organisation actually care about the environment?

"Mirania, please let me explain." Asthar sat down opposite of her again; his demeanour was different, more professional and serious. Mirania clenched her teeth. She had let Zael explain so she should extend the courtesy to Asthar as well, even though she felt sick to her stomach. Seeing that Asthar was still waiting for an answer, she gave a curt nod.

"Mirania," he said slowly and folded his hands in front of himself, "I understand your disappointment. At first I didn't want to accept either, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided differently." He looked her in the eye and, somehow, his sharp and serious gaze calmed her. "The truth is; our protests do little. We don't have the power to change much with what we are doing. The authorities have looked into Arganan's business practices and found nothing. In the eye of justice, he is not in the wrong. We have to find proper proof and hand it to the authorities. And that's why I decided to take this job."

Mirania's heart plunged. Asthar's idea wasn't bad per se, but it was definitely illegal. And Mirania had vowed to herself that she would never sink to that level. Biting her lip, she dropped her gaze.

"I see you don't agree?"

Mirania nodded and looked up again. Asthar still looked determined, but there was sympathy in his eyes. "I'm no criminal and I don't want anyone to commit a crime in my organisation's name," she said firmly.

"I understand that," Asthar agreed with a warm smile. Mirania's tenseness abated slightly. "And I find your integrity impressive." That drew a small, proud smile from Mirania. "But I do not plan to snoop around or break into locked files. I only want to chat with the right people." He was grinning now. "You said yourself that I can sell anything to anyone. I think I'm more than able to get people to trust me."

Mirania still felt much doubt in her heart and mind. "I don't like using people," she said, shaking her head.

"I'll just have a few friendly chats with other employees. And if I find anything at all, it will be anonymous hints. I won't give away any names. Nobody would be in trouble. No one but Arganan, that is."

"I understand that, but I still don't like it." And yet, if this would free nature from at least one polluter, wasn't it worth it? She still felt a bit sick, when she looked up. "Please be careful."

"I promise that I'll be careful," Asthar answered with a soft smile. His gaze made her feel odd and put on the spot; she flushed slightly.

Suddenly Asthar's expression fell. In the same moment, Mirania smelled it as well. Asthar whirled around, shoved the pot into the sink and opened the faucet. It sizzled and hissed and filled the kitchen with smoke. Coughing lightly, Asthar pushed open the kitchen window.

Mirania hid an amused smile behind her hand. After closing the faucet again, Asthar turned back to her, laughing embarrassedly. "It's not a good day for cooking."

"Maybe you need some help?" Mirania chuckled.

Asthar tilted his head, grinning. "Is that an offer?"

"Gladly. I love spring rolls."

"And soup and salads?"

"Yes." She giggled.

##

On Saturday, they had a gloriously blue sky, t-shirt weather and many, many visitors at the district festival – the perfect conditions for Mirania's fundraiser food stand to be insanely successful. Not all of her customers were interested in her cause and where the money was going, but they were interested in the cakes and their sandwich station. The cakes had been baked by several organisation members – Mirania, Zael and, curiously, Lowell included – and most of the ingredients for the sandwiches were from Mirania's right hand, Lucia; she owned a big yard with several vegetable patches. She had even baked the bread they were using.

"Here you go." Mirania handed a piece of apple cake to her customer and then stepped back, wiping her hands on her apron. Her stomach had been growling since forever and she had been standing in the sun for far too long anyway. She asked Zael to take over for her and went over to Asthar.

"And what do you want?" Asthar asked a small boy. The boy was sucking on his index finger and threw an unsure glance up at his mother.

"Do you want cheese, dear?" The boy nodded slowly and threw a sceptical glance at Asthar. Asthar only grinned broadly.

"It's very good cheese. I even met the cow it comes from." The boy frowned. "I really do. She's very nice."

"No tomato for him," the mother said, smiling, and patted her son's head.

"Alright." Asthar nodded. Mirania watched him quickly assembling the sandwich, handing it to the boy and finishing the transaction with the woman. After they were gone, Asthar turned to Mirania. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, actually," Mirania started, but her loudly growling stomach took the words out of her mouth. Asthar chuckled.

"I've brought us something to snack on." He jerked his head in direction of the tent where they were keeping their cold boxes with the sandwich ingredients. "The red one."

Curiously and hungry, Mirania walked over and opened the slightly bigger, red box. "Aw," she sighed when she saw the content; patties wrapped in lettuce leaves, fried potato patties also in lettuce, a few boxes with cut-up vegetables and other boxes with something white in it. Mirania could also see a few bottles of dips and maple syrup.

"What's this?" She held up a box with white stuff.

Asthar glanced over his shoulder. "Rice pudding. There're spoons somewhere in a bag." Mirania found them next to the cold box. But she decided to start with the hearty food first. Munching contentedly on a meat patty, she watched her friends selling delicious cake and sandwiches. The visitors of the festival seemed to like them and some even came back for a second helping. Mirania grinned happily; she would donate the money to the water-purifying project of a good friend of hers.

After maybe half an hour – Mirania had started on her second rice pudding box – Asthar let Ariela take his place and sat next to Mirania. He threw a glance into the cold box. "I see you left a bit for us."

"Of course," Mirania said with a smile, "you're all working so hard."

Grinning, Asthar grabbed a potato patty. They sat next to each other for a while, just eating and people watching. Eventually, Asthar turned to her.

"Have you made up with Zael?"

Mirania swallowed and her gaze darted to Zael, who was taking a break right now as well; he was talking to a girl with long, silvery blonde hair. "Yes." She folded her hands over her crossed legs. "We've talked again yesterday. I understand that they're not in the position to just decline a job. They're still new at the agency. And we need the money to pay the bills." Her shoulders slumped. "I don't like it, but beggars can't be choosers." She tried to smile, but it was terribly askew.

Asthar nodded slowly. "That's good to hear. Well," he said loudly and wiped his hands on his apron, "as soon as you become rich and famous, you can freely choose who you support." He winked at her.

Mirania chuckled. "Sure." She looked around; Ariela was working together with Warren now – he was handling the slicing and buttering of the bread and she the rest – and Zael was grabbing his bag. Mirania frowned. He noticed her look while swinging his bag over his shoulder. Smiling sheepishly, he walked over.

"Hey. Lisa asked me to show her around." He gestured to the stands around them. "She's never been to a street festival."

"It's alright," Mirania answered, smiling, and threw a glance at Asthar, "I think we can manage on our own." Asthar winked at him. Zael grinned broadly, waved them goodbye and hastily slipped between the tent and counter onto the street. The blonde woman from before was waiting for him.

"She looks nice," Mirania commented as the two disappeared in the crowd. When Asthar didn't answer, she threw another glance at him. Asthar was frowning lightly, staring at the spot where Zael and Lisa had just been. "Asthar?"

"Hm?" His face relaxed and he looked at her questioningly. "She just reminded me of someone," he explained with a shake of his head.

"Oh." Mirania turned, looking ahead again. Warren was just handing a sandwich to a young girl. "Say, Asthar, when does your job at Arganan's start?"

"Next Wednesday." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I think Zael and Dagran already start on Monday?"

"I think so."

"We won't work together directly. I've heard they're supposed to care for Arganan's niece and her fiancé."

"I don't know. They said they weren't allowed to talk about it."

"Really?" Asthar glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well, I wasn't told that."

"And where do you work?" Mirania picked up a bottle of water and took a sip.

Asthar seemed to hesitate for a second. "I'm responsible for Arganan's safety."

Mirania's eyes widened. "Really?"

Asthar nodded. "Yeah. I found it a bit odd." He straightened and crossed his arms. "Boss told me that Arganan personally picked me." His forehead slowly creased.

"Maybe he's seen that you're an ex-soldier and thought you're especially competent?" Mirania suggested.

Asthar shrugged. "That could be." He fell silent after that.

Mirania frowned. She wanted to question him further, but she was interrupted by Ariela calling for her. "Mirania!" Ariela waved her over. Mirania threw a quick glance at Asthar, who was smiling again, nodded to him and then walked over to Ariela. There was a friendly-looking woman standing next to her. "She wants to know about the ingredients of the chocolate cake. Her son might be allergic against some things." Smiling, Mirania rattled down the ingredients, which quickly turned into a chat about additives and crop spraying.

After handing the woman a pamphlet of her organisation and wishing her a good day, Mirania looked around for something to do. Asthar had returned to the sandwich stand, and Ariela and Warren were taking care of the cakes. After a moment of indecision, she walked over to Asthar. He just threw her a small smile and they comfortably worked together until the street festival officially ended.