(58)
The fateful day had come. Nestra’s plane was set to depart at 2PM but for some inane reason, the private company in charge of transport insisted that she came at 10, which meant catching the tail end of rush hour. Not only that, but the small airport’s admin staff spent most of the time triple checking that her passport and visa were in order. Maybe it had something to do with last minute calls or maybe it was standard fare. She’d never traveled to Europe before so she couldn’t be sure. That left her with too much time hanging around a lightly populated terminal watching rich Thresholders board reinforced airliners to destinations unknown.
Contrary to the old airliners she’d seen in pre-Incursion vids, modern planes were sleeker, faster, and sharper to accommodate exotic platings and countermeasures. The planes were unarmed but they did have tools to survive, the most prominent of which was speed. Watching those majestic beasts take off was an inspiring reminder of mankind’s resilience that awed Nestra for all of five minutes before boredom set in. An early lunch occupied another half an hour and then it was time to reply to texts and doomscroll the latest news. All of her family (except Ulysses) had sent her supportive texts. Some of the senior members of the House had also sent their encouragement. She replied to all of them and also to Stibbs and even Doctor Mazingwe with promises that yes she’d set an appointment as soon as she was back. Valerian remained a cause for concern. He was definitely not feeling too chuffed about his family breathing down on his neck, but as he’d said, he wasn’t in any sort of danger so Nestra accepted that it would be something for when she came back.
Aunt Claire found her bored to tears at 1:30, not too long before the boarding time would begin.
“Where were you? I thought you might miss the flight!” Nestra reproached.
“What do you mean, darling? I’m well in advance this time. I could even fly out and grab you new shoes and still make it.”
Aunt Claire was wearing a colorful designer dress ensemble that remained sensible yet still caught the gaze, especially with her bare scarred shoulders. By contrast, Nestra was wearing a tank top with thick trousers while her deep green coat was rolled over her cabin luggage. It was much colder in Switzerland at the edge of October.
“You have boots?” Claire exclaimed.
“Yeah? It might rain in Zurich.”
“Oh, sorry. If it looks like I might walk in a puddle I might just… hover. You’re here early darling. Nervous?”