The rest of the evening had surprised Fiona. After the shower, Abigail had told her that she was going to take her somewhere different to get out of the stuffiness of the Mudd Station barracks. They had gone back to Abigail's room, where she had stuffed an inordinate amount of blankets and tarps and a few other supplies into two large backpacks and then they had set out. 

          Fiona was left scratching her head as they made their way to one of the outward most supply buildings, a tall, ugly utilitarian structure, and had then proceeded to make their way up onto its flat roof. 

          Once they had made their way to one of the outermost corners, Abigail pull out the tarps and very quickly erected a kind of lean-to tent, covering the sky above them and leaving only open a wedge that looked out into the dense underbrush and woods that grew beyond the perimeter of the station. 

          She enlisted Fiona's help to layer some of the thicker blankets on top of the 'floor' of the tent, making it relatively comfortable. When they were done, Fiona turned to her. "You brought me up here to pitch a tent on the roof?"

          Abigail shrugged and smiled. "Well, we cannot leave the base, and the only privacy on the base is our quarters, I figured you might like a change of scenery."

          Fiona raised an eyebrow and gave Abigail an exaggerated up and down look. "Oh I do not mind the scenery, I just never would have guessed this."

          "Did you never go camping as a child, surat?" She teased. 

          "Neg, not really. Remember, I was a spoiled brat."

        Their coupling was slow and gentle, both out of necessity of Fiona's injuries and the general emotion and feel of the moment. After a while, a gentle rain began to fall, and Fiona nervously waited for drops to pierce their shelter. Abigail had built it well, and there was just the soft patter of the rain, a gentle rain different from the almost daily deluge that pounded Mudd Station in the afternoon.

        Abigail propped herself up on her elbows and turned her head to look at Fiona, who lay on her back with her arms above her head. "Can I ask you a silly question, surat?"

        Fiona nodded. "Sure. I think you and I are past worrying if questions are silly any longer. Shoot."

          "When you were a child in the Inner Sphere, what did you dream about?"

          Fiona scrunched her shoulders a bit. "That is a strange question. What do you mean?"

          "I mean growing up, what did you dream about as a child, what did you envision the future being? For me, and for that matter, for everyone I grew up around, it was simple. We all dreamed of becoming warriors, winning glory, and returning to the Inner Sphere. We never knew that we would be the generation to do it, but we dreamed of it anyway. But it occurred to me once that I had no idea what it was like for you."

          Fiona sighed softly. "Mine were ever changing. When I was very young, of course, I dreamed I would grow up to be a beautiful princess, somehow charming my way to become the beloved leader of New Ivaarsen."

          Abigail laughed gently. "I cannot imagine you like that, surat. You are too much of a fighter for that. But it is amusing just the same." 

          Fiona gently slapped at Abigail. "Go ahead and laugh, but you asked." She paused for a moment. "As I grew up, though, I began to realize that my parents were always going to be more focused on my brother. He was older, and he was a boy. For a time, my dream was to be better than he was, but I soon realized that all my successes would continue to be politely shuffled off to second place behind Jackson. And then my dreams shifted to finding something where I would be judged, where I could rise or fall, based on what I did, not according to my parents or anyone else's standards or ideas."

          Abigail smiled. "And that led you to becoming a warrior. And to coming here."

          Fiona nodded. "Not intentionally, but it has seemed to work out that way. I have no illusions that there is not still a ceiling here that I will never clear, but at least it is more straightforward here."

          "When we have restored the Star League, will you go home and show them all how far you have come?"

          She shook her head. "Neg, I do not see any circumstances that would ever lead me home. The clan is my home now."