4. The Super Sister Support Service

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

“Ugh…”, Kara groaned, her hand shooting out from under the duvet to scramble blindly in search of her phone on the side. Kara’s fingers curled around the vibrating phone and pulled it back into her warm cocoon, swiping to accept the skype call without opening her eyes. “‘ello?” Kara sleepily mumbled her indistinct greeting.

“Good morning, dear sister of mine.” The teasing voice of her sister drifted over the line far more cheery than Kara could handle after being rudely awoken. “How are you feeling this fine day?”

“Ugh…”, Kara grumbled suffering profusely from not getting her normal eight hours of sleep last night.

“That good, huh?”

“Need. More. Sleep.” Kara replied, emphasising each word in a way reminiscent of a zombie calling out for brains.

“Did the Palace have an all night rager or something?” Alex inquired, as Kara began to stir more fully, gradually becoming aware of the sounds of cars and other people in the background of the call indicating that Alex was probably walking home after a late shift at work.

“Nothing like that.” Kara tittered, finally feeling brave enough to her poke head out of the quilt and squint around the slowly brightening up room.

“What is it like?” Alex pushed forward with her questioning, her innate sister skills picking up on Kara’s failure to deny the ‘or something'.

“Well… err…”, Kara cringed internally and externally at Alex’s interrogation voice that she employed on Kara and criminals alike to incredible effect.

“Oh my god! Did you sleep with someone?” Alex demanded her refined questioning technique going right out the window in shock upon using her magic ability to detect Kara’s cringe without seeing it. A cringe was only ever associated with Kara’s natural shy modesty when it came to romance.

“Al-” Kara attempted to cut in, to no avail.

“Are they there with you right now?”

“No, don-”

“Just please tell me it wasn’t Mike!”

“NO!” Kara yelled out, completely insulted that her sister would even suggest Mike as a viable option.

“Oh, thank god.” Alex let out such an incredibly large sigh of relief Kara half expected to feel a puff of air through the phone itself. Once Alex had suitably recovered from her self-induced heart attack, she continued with her questioning but at a far tamer pace and intensity, “So, who is it?”

Kara rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the flash of green that kept appearing in her mind. “I didn’t sleep with anyone…”, the honest denial came out at a slightly higher pitch than her normal voice accompanied by a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at the words that Kara didn't really know what to make of.

Alex, knowing her sister better than anyone, heard the barely audible despondent sign and asked with a much softer tone, “But you want to…?”

“Wh- No- Maybe-,” Kara stammered, her heart beginning to beat erratically at the thoughts and images filling her head that sent a red hot flush throughout her body.

She barely knew the chef, she didn't even know her name (and Kara definitely had a rule about that when it came to sleeping with someone). Kara had never been interested in one night stands and had only been in two relationships in her lifetime. Her first relationship was in high school with pretty much the dream guy from every teen romcom film ever made. Star of the football team, sweet, courteous with boyish good looks. It was the idyllic first relationship. However, as happens to so many other couples, it didn't survive the long distance that came with going to college and growing as individuals. They met up during the first winter break and already found themselves struggling to connect after only a couple of months apart. Kara had made another rule following that: no long distance relationships.

Her next relationship (Kara would argue that you couldn’t really call it that) was with Adam Grant, who she met the first week of working at CatCo. Alex referred to him as the embodiment of Kara’s rebellious phase. Adam was all chemistry, no commitment. He would take her on wild and unforgettable dates whenever he could fit her in, but he was never there for the everyday moments. He would never stay over and couldn’t handle simply being in each other’s company. Any lull or moment of softness was unbearable. Life always had to be an event and Kara liked (and honestly preferred) the quiet moments to the constant ‘show’ Adam adored.

Ever since Adam, Kara had happily put her time towards work, spending time with Alex and her friends. She hadn’t had much interest in seeing anyone… until now it would appear if the buzzing, exhilarating electric shocks coursing through her whenever she thought of the chef were anything to go by.  

“I mean… I wouldn’t say no.” Kara admitted with a scared whisper.

“Really?!” Alex said enthusiastically trying to encourage Kara to be excited rather than scared. “Tell me everything.”

“There’s nothing really to tell.” Kara lied, the memories of the last two nights replaying defiantly in her mind as if personally offended by the insinuation.

“The blush says different.” Alex commented drily.

Kara blinked rapidly at the remark, sitting up straight in bed and peering around her dimly lit room fearfully. “How do you know I’m blushing? You can’t see me. Can you? Oh my god, you didn’t follow me here, did you? Because if you did… we are going to need to have a serious discussion about boundaries.” Kara’s panicked words came out at such an impressive velocity that only Alex, who was more than acclimated to Kara’s high speed, would have been able to keep up.

“Firstly, take a breath.” Alex ordered, and Kara willingly sucked in air to alleviate the lightheadedness she was currently experiencing. “Secondly, I didn’t know for definite you were blushing until you just confirmed it.” Kara let out an aggrieved groan and slumped back down in her bed. ”Thirdly, holy shit!” Alex exclaimed causing Kara to wince at the sudden volume, a sound of a door slamming in the background indicating that Alex had arrived home. “This guy must be special if just the idea of talking about him got you to go to level three rambling.”

Kara rolled her eyes in frustration. “I still can’t believe you’ve ranked my rambling.”

“It needed to be done and don’t think you can throw me off topic. Tell me about him.”

Kara bit her lip and hesitated, anxiety knotting up her stomach.

Kara was an out and proud bisexual, having realised her attraction to both sexes in college prompted by Alex’s own, far more troubled, realisation about her own sexuality. Subsequently, Alex had been a key supporting pillar in the early days, desperate to protect her little sister from struggling the same way she had done. Kara, though, had never actually acted on this attraction, mostly due to not dating very often. This was an entirely new experience and she didn’t really know how to approach it. Kara hated feeling out of her depth hence why she researched all her articles to the nth level of detail, planned out her journeys well in advance and laid out her clothes for the next day without fail.

Kara took a deep breath in, gathering her courage and strength enabling her to confidently stammer out, “Err… her…”

Silence followed her words.

Kara found herself gripping the phone tighter to her ear fearing a rejection even though she had no logical reason to expect one. There was shuffling and the sounds of cupboards opening and closing. Finally, Alex said, her tone filled with affection and delight, “Okay… I got the good whiskey out for this. I’m settled on the couch and don’t need to move anytime soon. Let rip the level five ramble I know you’re desperate to unleash.”

Kara laughed with a shake of her head, snuggling back down into the duvet. “Well, it all started because you made me miss dinner…”

Kara experienced an almost relentless amount of teasing during her story, made infinitely worse by the fact that she knew her sister was filing away her embarrassing moments for future blackmail. Alex had begun cackling from the moment Kara admitted to falling backwards through the kitchen door and mistaking the green eyed woman for an angel followed by a howl of laughter when she realised Kara didn’t know the woman’s name because she was always so mesmerised by the chef. Once Kara had finished her tale and Alex had gotten control of her laughter, she focused on bolstering up her sister’s confidence and courage to ‘firstly, find out this amazing girl’s name and then go for it’.

“Go for it?” Kara repeated believing she had just been given the most ridiculous piece of advice on the planet and that's including the time Alex had told her that she should go out the night before her big exam to let loose and burn off her built up stress. Kara had ended up taking her final still drunk wearing a bin bag that Alex had to fashion for her when Kara in her infinite drunk wisdom felt clothes were a restriction on her freedom and were merely a way to enforce societal gender norms (safe to say drunk Kara managed to ace her gender and women’s studies final).

“Yeah, go for it.” Alex repeated as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do which Kara couldn’t help but think was rich coming from the girl who turned into a ridiculous stammering mess when a pretty girl so much as looked her way. Kara is relatively sure, even if her sister will neither confirm nor deny it, that Alex only became capable of full sentences in front of her ex-girlfriend by the fifth date.

A thousand reasons flitted into Kara’s mind about why she shouldn’t just ‘go for it’.

She has a rule about long distance.

She still wasn’t sure if she was even allowed to be talking to a random member of the Palace staff or allowed to be in that particular area of the Palace in the first place.

She was supposed to be putting her job first, this was a major career stepping stone and she couldn’t really afford to be distracted or exhausted from sneaking away every night.

She didn’t even know the chef’s name.

But despite all that, and the countless other reasons whispering softly to her, the loudest one of them all, the only one that really mattered to Kara (and that should have been the biggest warning sign to her) was, “What if she doesn’t feel the same way?”

“Kara, listen to me very carefully.” Alex replied, her voice firm and direct. “She would be a fool not to.” Kara made a sound of disbelief but quickly fell silent at the ‘tsk’ her sister made that she knew would have been accompanied by her sister’s harsh frown and glare. “She said she wanted nothing else but to see you again, and then the night before that she literally said she found you cute. I don’t think you’re going to be taking a great risk by putting yourself out there. And if she can’t see how amazing you are, then she wasn’t worthy of you in the first place.”

“I love you, Alex.” Kara murmured into the phone, the anxiety that had been lacing through her quieting down for the most part and the fear of rejection lessening when reminded that, no matter what happened, her sister would always be there to catch her.

“I know. I am pretty incredible.”

Following their heart to heart, Kara brought her sister up to speed on her work, Alex quickly and genuinely congratulating her for CatCo’s win yesterday before Kara insisted on listening to how Alex’s current investigations were going. The sisters talked until Kara had to get ready for breakfast and Alex had begun to snore on the other end of the line. They said their goodbyes with Alex insisting Kara call her to let her know how it goes with the chef later.

Kara rushed to get ready and join her friends who were waiting for her in their shared living and work space. The three CatCo representatives wandered down to the dining hall for breakfast, discussing and prepping for the interview with Theonia’s UN ambassador.

The plan for the day was less physically intensive than the walking tour yesterday which Winn was overly thankful for as he had been complaining about sore muscles almost non-stop since the August Gardens. The morning was to consist of a full tour of the Palace, the main highlights being: the throne room, the library and the hallway of remembrance which contained historical paintings depicting past rulers and significant moments in Theonia’s past. The afternoon was to be dedicated to the first set of scheduled interviews that would be held in various allocated rooms throughout the Palace.

After today, though, it would appear the training wheels were going to come off and the reporters were going to be granted greater freedom to explore and make their own plans for viewing the country with intermittent interviews already planned for them. They were to be assigned a security force officer that would accompany them during their travels but other than that they were going to be given a lot more freedom.

James rationalised whilst buttering up a croissant, “Yesterday’s tour and the security force were never about making a statement to us, but sending a signal to the citizens.”

“What signal?” Winn asked with a confused frown whilst he purposely tried to ignore the enormous amount of food Kara was consuming without breaking a sweat.

“That we are under the Queen’s protection.” James replied with a light shrug.

“And the security force does that?” Winn glanced over at a pair of uniformed and armed guards that were leaning against the wall next to the dining room entrance, completely unreactive to the buzz of activity surrounding them.

“They’re royal guards, Winn.” Kara chimed in, tilting her head to peer at Winn thoughtfully through her thick glasses, “Did you not read the information packet I sent you?”

Winn groaned and rolled his eyes at the reminder, “Kara that thing was nearly twice the length of the entire ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy.” Kara let out an insulted sound, crossing her arms over her chest and muttering about how she was simply being ‘thorough’. Winn batted away her comments before returning to the original subject, “I figured they were just Theonian military.”

“They are Theonian military,” Kara answered, unable to resist the lure of sharing her enthusiasm about everything she had learnt, “but they are specialised branch dedicated to protecting the royal family. Being given a position in the royal guard is one of the greatest honours a soldier can receive.”

“Yeah but how do you know that?” Winn pressed, tilting his head as he continued to look skeptically between Kara and the guards at the door.

“Look at them.” Kara directed, turning in her own seat to look at the guards herself. The two guards, a man and a woman, were dressed in black uniforms with purple and white accents, black combat boots and purple berets.  The soldiers during their time in Theonia had been stoic and standoffish, always leaving a respectful amount of distance around the newsgroups so they wouldn’t feel under scrutiny. Kara had tried to talk to a few of them on a few separate occasions but had always been dismissed or blanked to the fullest degree. “You can tell by the purple insignia with the three vertical white lines on their arms. It’s the symbol of the royal family.”

“Ahh…” Winn murmured in understanding before pouting disappointedly, “It seems a bit plain for the royal symbol.”

Kara’s eyes lit up at the opening, an explanation tumbling out excitedly, “Actually, there are numerous theories about what the lines represent. My favourite theory so far-”

“Kara.” Winn whined shaking his head, “Just because I didn’t read your textbook on Theonia doesn’t mean I was waiting for the audiobook version to come out.”

Kara picked up her cutlery and began aggressively cutting into her pancakes, muttering under her breath, “Uncultured swine.”

Winn heard the insult and gave Kara a proud grin, “Yep.” Winn then returned to James who had been watching the entire interaction with amusement, “Why are we under the Queen’s protection and not the government’s? I thought the whole point of the election was for the Queen to have no power anymore.”

“Theonia is still a constitutional monarchy, and her majesty is written in to be the Head of State.” James glanced at Kara, showing off that he had read her notes, and to check that what he was saying was correct. Kara nodded along encouraging James to continue. “Admittedly, the Head of State is more of a symbolic position than anything else, but that’s beside the point. The main reason the Queen has so much power is simply because... the people adore her. The prime minister is respected and liked but nothing close to the level of the Queen.”

“Huh.” Winn took a few seconds to absorb the information, using it to put everything they had seen yesterday through a different lens. “And showing us off with the royal guards yesterday, was to warn off the citizens?”

“I don’t think the tour was to warn off people but more to show we could be trusted.” James answered after a moment’s consideration. “That the Queen values us. Theonian’s have developed, over the past couple of centuries, a strong dislike and suspicion of foreigners.”

“Which is kind of understandable, all things considered.” Winn cut in with an understanding nod of his head. Kara and James both shot Winn raised eyebrows causing the IT expert to shrug and admit with a slight smile directed at the blonde, “I did read some of your textbook.”

James chuckled before biting his lip and glancing between his two friends, “Have you guys thought about what Theonia gets out of inviting a plane load of journalists into their country?”

“Publicity… ?” Winn suggested weakly, “Setting the foundations for starting up the tourism business?”

“Revealing their international agenda?” Kara hazarded a guess after some reflection.

“Possibly.” James agreed.

“What’s your theory?” Winn prompted lightly.

“That we are here to convince the citizens that Theonia opening its borders to the rest of the world isn’t a bad thing. We are the attempt to justify a very unpopular decision.” James revealed quietly so as not to be overheard forcing Kara and Winn to lean forward making a small huddle of heads over the table.

“Think about it,” James directed gently upon seeing that his colleagues weren’t fully convinced, “journalists are a rare breed in that they want to know everything about the place they’re visiting. Kara epitomises it.” James gestured to Kara who blushed with pride at the compliment. “You want to learn as much as you possibly can about Theonia and you want to have genuine conversations with people that live here.” James summed up, “Look around at the journalists invited on this trip.”

James lifted his head, and pointed with his chin at a small, mousy woman a couple of tables over. “Grace Mayweather from ‘The Post’ won an award for her documentation of homelessness in Washington. She got some of the most closed off people to open up and talk to her.” James then jerked his head slightly over his shoulder highlighting a lanky man with a predisposition for checkered shirts at all times, “Then you have Ray Larkin from ‘The Times’. He’s probably one of the most renowned international correspondents in the business.” James returned to meet the curious gazes of his two friends with open brown eyes, “Can’t you see how selective they were with which journalists were allowed to come. They picked people who are good ambassadors for the rest of the world.”

“Doesn’t explain Mike…” Winn tutted, all three of the CatCo representatives glancing over at the LYNX table where they were making lewd gestures and loud, obnoxious comments to one another without a thought for those forced to sit nearby.

Kara sighed, a sour taste already appearing in her mouth in anticipation of what she was about to say, “Actually... it kind of does.”

“Kara?” Winn’s face contorted with surprise and bewilderment.

“Even you have to admit Mike is fantastic at social media.” Kara hated the truth of what she had said.

Mike had a gift when it came to being liked by the masses, whether it was on youtube, facebook or twitter, he knew how to grab people’s attention and keep it. Kara hated to admit it but she was uncomfortably envious of his ability; she struggled bitterly with being in the public eye especially on camera, hence why she stuck to the written word so resolutely. She loved interviewing people, getting to know someone on a one on one level but she found it harder to connect with a large group, to be on trend and popular .

“He can put a positive spin on just about everything and I hate to admit it, believe me,” Kara emphasised by raising her hand as if to physically ward off the discomfort she was experiencing, “but he comes across as sincerely charming in interviews. He’s kind of an anomaly at LYNX because he’s not constant doom and gloom.”

“But he’s such an ass off camera.” Winn complained indignantly.

“Agreed.” Kara and James affirmed.

“I can’t believe he gets the money shot.” Winn reminded them, shrinking down in his seat in disappointment.  

“Ugh… don’t remind me.” James grunted, poking at his leftovers that Kara had begun eyeing longingly.

“Just ignore them.” Kara requested, perking up when James offered his plate to her, “Let’s focus on our own interview.”

After breakfast, Sam appeared in the dining hall with her signature, welcoming smile and easily rounded up the reporters, herding them to the atrium where they had all first entered the Palace. Sam began her tour there, explaining the importance Theonians place on the stars and the night sky. Theonia had their own names for the constellations, and stories of guidance and wisdom related to the astrological arrangements which they would regularly tell their children before bed. The atrium’s incredible ceiling had been painted over a century ago by a famous physicist with incredible artistic ability, who had perfectly plotted out the stars visible from the Palace.

Kara bounced gleefully as she listened, loving all the information and history being shared with her. Sam stood on the steps, so that the reporters below could all see and hear her, which Kara was thankful for as she had been jostled to be near the rear of the crowd causing her to nearly, at one point, collide with one of the statues guarding the entranceway.

Kara glanced up at the marble figure, unable to resist muttering an apology to the inanimate object. The statue was a figure in full armour. It had a chest plate marked with three broad lines, a helm shielding it’s face, one hand (the one closest to the doorway) held a spear bedecked with a meticulously chiseled stone ribbon. The other hand, though, was what caught Kara’s attention. The hand was ungloved and without a gauntlet, and it was gripping tightly a magnificent quill, one finger running along to the nib as if ready to start writing at a moment’s notice.

“Any questions?” Sam called out to the crowd clearly ready to move onto the next area. The reporters remained silent, less interested in the older history and far more intrigued to see if they would be shown any reminders or mementos from Lex’s reign or glimpses of the current monarch’s residency. The group of people shuffled their feet impatiently indicating that they were ready to move on.

Kara, however, had been unable to pull her eyes away from the oxymoronic statues that guarded the entrance to the Palace. Sam had explained the architecture, design, ceiling skyscape and the handful of paintings in the atrium but she hadn’t explained the stone sentinels.

“Um… Hi,” Kara nervously raised a hand grabbing Sam’s attention who gestured for her to speak with a fond smile and nod of her head, “Would you- um… I mean can you tell us about these statues?” Kara asked timidly, trying to ignore the glares from the LYNX crew that disliked the delay by purposefully returning her gaze back to the statue behind her.

Kara glanced back to Sam to find out she had positively lit up at the question, “Those are in fact-”

“New additions.” A clipped, imperial voice interrupted.

It took Kara, a couple of seconds to become acutely aware of the now complete and total silence that pervaded the room. Timidly, Kara’s gaze moved away from the statue and back to the giant staircase.

Sam had turned away from the crowd to face the stairway that led to the East Wing of the palace, her head bowed and her legs bent and slightly crossed in an impeccable curtsy revealing just who had arrived.

The Queen.

The stillness that had settled over the reporters immediately shattered once the immediate shock and realisation had been absorbed, suddenly numerous cameras were snapping away at an incredible ferocity.

Kara’s gaze slowly moved away from Sam to track the royal figure descending the stairs, her heels click-clacking ominously on the steps.

Everything went numb.

It was as if the next few seconds were an out of body experience, her mind unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

It was the chef.

But not how Kara had ever seen her before.

Gone were the sweatpants, fuzzy socks and baggy university sweatshirt to be replaced with a well-fitted black dress with red patterning across the chest, square neckline revealing sharp collar bones and an elegant neck. The dress reached to just above the knee, easily running the line between conservative and fashionable. The whole look was completed with black, patent, killer heels that Kara was acutely aware she, personally, would have fallen over in if forced to wear.

The chef’s hair that had always been in a messy thrown up ponytail or bun was now perfectly styled into an immaculate updo held by a black clip at the back of her head, allowing an unobstructed view of her pale, sharp features.

The biggest change from the chef of last night wasn’t her clothes though or the lack of large, rounded spectacles. It was her demeanour and how she held herself.

The playful expression that had been a mix of shy sincere affection and coy confidence, that Kara solely associated with her dinner companion was absent. In its place was cool disinterest and polite acknowledgement made apparent by the restrained smile, tight jaw and most importantly the closed off green eyes. Green eyes that Kara knew to hold a wealth of emotion and empathy. Now they were dull instead of vibrant, cold instead of warm and distant instead of vulnerable.

Kara’s breathing became quick and panicky as her mind raced and began to reevaluate the last two nights.

Could the winding path I took that first night have brought me into the East Wing? To the Queen’s kitchen?

Oh no… I fell backwards in front of the Queen.

Oh my god! I made fun of the Queen’s book.

Then I mocked her cooking.

WAIT... I MANHANDLED THE QUEEN!

Can I get hanged for that?

And of course, I flirted with the Queen.

GOD DAMN IT, KARA!!

Alex is never going to let me live this down… bring on the hanging...

Sam slowly raised herself back up and out of her curtsey once the dark haired woman had approached and waved her hand in a gentle upwards motion towards her. Sam slowly turned back round to face the crowd that were whispering excitedly to one another and taking as many photos as rapidly as they could. “Please allow me to introduce Her Majesty, Queen Lena of Theonia, first of her name and the royal protector of the realm.” Sam announced confidently and reverently, indicating that she had probably introduced the Queen before but still viewed it as a great honour.

“Thank you, Ms. Arias. I hope you don’t mind my intruding on your tour with our dignified guests.” Queen Lena apologised graciously with a slight dip of her head as she looked out at the people gathered in front of her. “I could never resist sharing the Palace’s secrets or our country’s history with eager listeners.” The reporters that had only moments ago been stamping their feet and muttering about wanting to move on, suddenly looked as if their genuine childhood dream of being granted a history lecture was about to be fulfilled.

Kara forced herself to breath out slowly and regain control of her tensed limbs, deciding to face her problems head on... by subtly shuffling forward until she was obscured from the Queen’s line of sight behind a particularly tall reporter.

“Your majesty, it would be a great honour... if you have the time to spare, that is... to hear from you on either of those subjects.” Sam requested with a deferential bow. The journalists all began to nod their heads keenly at the opportunity, the only people not pleased with this turn of events were the LYNX correspondents who looked positively furious and despondent that their golden chance at the money shot had been granted to everyone equally.

“I have time and would be delighted to show our guests around.” The Queen agreed, her hands clasping elegantly in front of her body as Sam slowly stepped back giving the photographers an even better photo opportunity. “Before we move on, I believe there was a question regarding the statues by the doorway…”

Kara shrank even further down at the same time as she began to step stealthily backwards with the intent to stay hidden and keep as much distance between herself and the Queen as possible, not knowing what else to do that would make this whole situation any less awkward.

“The statues were newly commissioned after my coronation.” The Queen explained in a voice that mesmerised and held the various journalists’ attentions. Kara, though was only half listening, trying desperately to quietly withdraw and make herself invisible.

Kara took a careful step back.

“I wanted to send out a signal to my people and any who visited the Palace-”

Another step backwards.

“-that my reign would be different to my brother’s.”

Kara’s back collided heavily with something solid that subsequently rocked backwards.

“That there is always another option, another way… a better way.”

Kara spun around, an abject horror filling her upon seeing the statue she had been admiring swaying dramatically, the head of the armoured figure banged against the wall resulting in it starting to tumble forward.

“I wanted a physical symbol that Theonia should embrace peace and leave behind violence.”

Kara dodged out of the way and yelled, “MOVE!” to the nearby reporters whose backs were turned to the incoming danger. The reporters reacted quickly stepping out of the way as the symbol of peace smashed into the floor and shattered into stony chunks and pieces.

Kara stared down at the completely decimated, almost unrecognisable statue, fully aware that every single pair of eyes were on her. Painfully slowly Kara lifted her gaze away from the rubble and up to the stairs, making direct eye contact for the first time that day with familiar green eyes.

Lena’s face went through an array of emotions in the space of half a second. Shock, confusion and then hurt .

Kara’s heart sunk sickeningly in her chest at that final one.

Those emotions were hidden away almost immediately, only to be replaced by a cold, hard mask consisting of a harsh frown and burning green eyes that scared and depressed Kara far worse than that momentary flash of pain she had seen.

“Sorry.” Kara winced out, cringing as she did so.