“You look lost.”

Those soft, melodious words penetrated through Willow’s skull, grabbed her attention and just gently tugged at it. How long had she been sitting there at the bar in the Agora, staring at her drink? She’d thanked the server who had brought it to her, taken a sip, then set it down to think. But what about, or for how long, evaporated from her memory as she looked up at the speaker.

“Hmm?”

“You look lost,” Revin repeated with a sly smile. “Would you like a new one?” The Romulan woman pointed at her drink. “Or something else?”

Whatever it was she had ordered was orange, with a gradient towards red at the bottom. But any number of cocktails could start like that, or end like that if ignored. She couldn’t recall, so just shrugged. “Actually, could I just get a coffee?”

“Of course,” Revin answered, taking her order and returned with it momentarily.

Her cup arrived with a saucer and two biscuits to one side, dark red and smelling faintly of roses. The foam was even decorated with a Starfleet delta, though not in cinnamon or cocoa, but something the same dark red as the biscuits.

“Just try them,” Revin insisted.

Whatever she’d been served was delicious. Spicy and sweet with a panoply of flavours underneath. She took her time, chewing on the biscuit, trying to place the flavours while Revin watched her.

“Rakal biscuits. Hard to get proper ingredients, but I was able to get some rakal flour while we were over Kyban.” Revin’s smile was a contented little thing before she leaned forward slightly, lowering her voice a notch more. “Now, do you want to talk to a counsellor, or your barkeep, about what is on your mind?”

“Who said anything was on my mind?” The defensive retort was automatic and she winced as soon as she finished.

Revin didn’t seem to mind though, merely kept on smiling. “Fifteen minutes of staring into the middle distance says otherwise.”

“Fifteen minutes?”

“Closer to twenty.”

Revin’s confirmation of how much time had passed hadn’t helped at all. Drawing in a breath, she calmed herself, tried to grapple a few thoughts together and then just decided to see what would spill out of her first.

“Ever had a doctor run a bunch of tests on you, keep muttering the word ‘interesting’ at every turn and then refuse to elaborate while they ‘run some analysis’?”

“When I was a kid,” Revin answered. “When I started to complain about my vision being blurry, so my father called in a physician. They ran a series of scans and then left. That was the start of the loss of my eyesight.”

“Wait, loss of your eyesight?” she asked.

“Oh yes. Spent years and years blind, hidden away before being sent off to live in a monastery. Senatorial families can’t be seen to be weak.” The smile on Revin’s face was an excellent mask. “Developed a fantastic sense of hearing, I might add. But you’re changing the subject. So yes, I have had a doctor say ‘interesting’ to me a fair amount and only elaborate much later.”

“I don’t like it. I want to know what she found.”

“Do you like puzzles?” Revin asked as she started to walk around the bar, eventually settling herself on the stool next to her.

“Hate them,” she admitted.

“Ah.” Revin paused for a second. “I think, though, to be a good doctor, Doctor Pisani must like puzzles.” Revin turned on her stool, her back to the bar, elbows propped on it as she watched the entire Agora. “Biology is a puzzle. The good doctor took her scans and is now trying to figure out what they are telling her. I think you’re just going to have to wait unfortunately, because you, Lieutenant Beckman, are a puzzle.”

“Am I just?” she asked, turning to face Revin.

“Hmm. Everyone here is. Everyone, everything, every situation. All puzzles.” Revin tilted her head and rolled it back to look at her. “Look at a puzzle long enough and you start to see things. Then you just need to figure out how they all fit together.”

“Is this the part where you give some sort of insight that I’ve missed about myself and shatter my world view?” She couldn’t help the snark. “Because I don’t think I need that today.”

“Only if you want it,” Revin answered with a shrug. “I will say, though, that you have a couple of admirers. Are you purposefully ignoring them, or just unaware?” Revin sat up straight with a smile. “Oh, there is something else on your mind!”

“No,” she blurted out. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it.” She could feel the blush warming her cheeks as the image of Jamie Sandhurst popped into her mind. “Don’t you have someone else to go bother?”

“Hmm, I should do rounds, shouldn’t I?” Revin hopped to her feet, cast her gaze over the Agora and picked a table as her first destination. “Oh, if you want to avoid a certain someone,” Revin’s tone told her that the Romulan already knew specifically who, “I’d finish that coffee quickly before they arrive for their usual.”

Revin’s warning had been a trap. She should have just sat there, brooding over her drink. Enjoying those biscuits. Or she should have gotten up and left there and then. But she hadn’t. She’d sat there drinking her coffee just quick enough to actually enjoy it before she left. And as the door out of the Agora gave way to her, to let her disappear into the bowels of the Republic and away from any awkward social situations, the trap had sprung shut around her.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Jamie Sandhurst was just as tall as she remembered, if not more so. That bright, silky ruby red hair, the sun-kissed complexion, the face to make a woman weep. “Hello Willow.”

“Hi,” was all she managed to get out.

She’d been the one to hit on Jamie nearly two years ago. Recently graduated, a short break before her first assignment, she’d thrown caution to the wind and hit on the prettiest woman in the club that night. It was just meant to be a bit of fun. Then they’d had a chance encounter not long after that and she’d found herself half-frozen. Who could blame her? Jamie was stunning, radiated confidence in all things and carried herself like she knew everyone was looking at her.

But a repeat encounter had never been her intention. It shouldn’t have happened, but it had.

And then Jamie had shown up on Republic and she’d found herself once again freezing.

Three times was beyond coincidence.

“Care to join me for a drink?” Jamie asked.

“I was just…I mean…I’ve got…” Jamie’s slight head tilt and smile stopped her dead. Then she sucked in a breath. “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Excellent. Find us a table. I’ll get us something to drink.”

She watched Jamie walk past her, admiring the woman. And then in a blink she was at a table, still watching Jamie as she was at the bar. A presence appeared at her side, the same soft voice that had broken her brooding earlier spoke.

“That is one of your admirers,” Revin said.

Ready to ask who the other was, she looked up at Revin, who was looking at her, brow furrowed. No, she was looking at the top of her head, moving to look all around her.

“What?”

“I could have sworn I saw a glow about you.” Revin sounded serious, like she had actually seen something. Then she shook it off. “Maybe later, though, yes?”

And before she could demand more answers from the Romulan woman, she was walking away, a polite word to Jamie as the two passed in amongst the tables and patrons of the Agora. And then Jamie was there, sitting down opposite her and all thought of what Revin had said disappeared.

“Chief Helm Officer,” Jamie purred as she sat down. “I have so many questions. Where do I begin?”