Ch 48: A City of Strangers

Three months had passed since Kael and Mira arrived in Gron.

The city was a marvel—far removed from the desolation of the Blanks, the tyranny of the Consortium, or the lawless chaos of the borderlands. Here, water flowed clean, food was abundant, and energy hummed through the streets, lighting homes and businesses with a steady, reliable glow. The people of Gron weren't just surviving; they were living.

For Kael, that meant opportunity. For Mira, it meant uncertainty.

Kael had spent the past weeks learning everything he could about Gron's technology. The city's energy grid fascinated him—part salvaged pre-war infrastructure, part decentralized innovation. Unlike the Consortium, which hoarded power, Gron had found a way to sustain itself without central control. It ran on a mix of solar collectors, chemical fuel cells, and geothermal reactors, all meshed together through a patchwork of independent systems. Efficient, but vulnerable.

It wasn't long before Kael's curiosity led him into the city's less-than-legal ventures. At first, he started small—tinkering with broken generators, repairing outdated fuel cells. Then, he was approached with riskier jobs: rerouting energy from abandoned underground lines, modifying personal power stations to siphon excess output, even repurposing old military batteries for off-the-books use. He wasn't doing it for the money, though that helped. He wanted to understand how Gron worked—both its official systems and the ones hidden beneath the surface.

One night, as he sat in a rented workshop surrounded by dismantled circuit boards and old capacitors, Mira walked in, arms crossed.

"You're starting to look like an actual technician," she remarked, eyeing the mess of tools and components.

Kael didn't look up from his work. "I am a technician."

"You know what I mean." She leaned against the table. "You've been buried in this for weeks. When's the last time you saw daylight?"

Kael smirked, adjusting the settings on a portable energy regulator. "Daylight's overrated."

Mira snorted. "Yeah? Well, so is getting arrested. And you're messing with illegal power sources now."

Kael finally looked at her. "I'm careful."

She didn't seem convinced. "I've seen this before. You get obsessed. The world narrows to a problem you want to solve, and then suddenly you're waist-deep in trouble."

He leaned back in his chair. "You're worried about me?"

"I'm worried about me having to bail you out of whatever mess you're about to walk into."

Kael chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll be fine, Mira."

She sighed, pushing off the table. "You say that now."

She left him to his work.

Mira had tried to relax. She really had.

The first week in Gron, she had done nothing but sleep, eat, and wander. She hadn't had that kind of freedom in years, and at first, it felt like a luxury. But as the days stretched on, restlessness crept in.

She tried looking for work. The city had plenty of it—mechanic jobs, security details, even courier gigs for the right price. But every time she thought about settling into something, it felt wrong.

She wasn't like Kael. She didn't have an easy fascination with how things worked. She wasn't drawn to technology or invention. She had spent too long fighting, surviving, running. Without a war to fight or an enemy to outrun, she felt… untethered.

One evening, she found herself in a quiet part of the city, sitting alone at a rooftop bar. The skyline stretched before her—soft lights, distant laughter, a city that didn't need her.

She sipped her drink, barely tasting it.

Is this what peace feels like?

If it was, then why did she feel like something was missing?